Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End
by reithedragonboy
Summary: High school sophomore loner and bully-target Billy Kaplan is best friends with the school's very popular athlete and fellow sophomore Teddy Altman. They've known each other since fifth grade and have suffered through the pains of school together. How will they fare when unforeseen events turns their lives upside down and force them to survive through a living hell? "High T rating!"
1. High School Lunch Break

**Title Image from Cris-Art on DA art site! Used by permission!  
**

Hello everybody! Yes, this is a new story that I've created after a chance encounter of a picture online depicting a certain couple from a comic certain comic series. Yes, I'm talking about Wiccan and Hulkling here, otherwise known as Billy and Teddy. When I first laid eyes on that picture, I instantly fell in love with this couple. Seriously, it was the coolest and cutest thing I've ever seen.

Now let me just admit something to you all before I go any further. I've never read an American comic book in my entire life. I know, you must all think I suck right now. I'm already regretting at this very moment that I was never into things like Spiderman and X-Men and all that. Oh well, can't change what's already happened. But yeah, because of that, I thought that the whole Billy and Teddy pairing was something that fans of the Young Avengers series had came up with much like the Sonic and Shadow pairings you've seen on here.

Imagine my surprise when I figured out that they were in fact an actual canonical gay couple! That was like the very first time I've ever heard of the written media centralizing to the young adult community doing something like this. I mean, we've seen stuff like that in like television series and even those sometimes unjustly "M" rated games. However, to do so in a very popular writing media like comic books was a first for me. This tells you how many barriers are being broken these days.

But that's enough of my ranting. Hopefully, my public library will have the Young Avengers collection so I can read them. I mean, I did find the comic collection of "The Walking Dead" there, so it should be easy. Yeah, I'm just now getting into the whole comic book thing. Better late than never, right?

However, I'd like to warn you now that since I know nothing about the Young Avengers characters except for what I've researched off of Wikipedia, expect a lot of my characters to be OOC. I really don't know how they act and am just creating their behaviors based on their Wikipedia descriptions. I think you'll understand what I mean when you read the beginning of the story, especially when it revolves around Billy's bouts of bullying. So for those of you who don't like OOC characters, I apologize in advance and ask that you don't grill me by saying I should read the series first before writing or anything like that.

With all that now out of the way, I ask that you please leave a review before you move onto the next story you want to read. Since this is a new story, it will really help me in figuring out what everybody thinks about it. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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**Chapter 1: High School Lunch Break**

For William Kaplan, going to school was nothing but a repetitive cycle of everyday teenage life with the purpose of having the seeds of knowledge planted in his head along with the betterment of his overall character. If he thought about it further, he would go so far to say that sentiment practically stretched to the rest of the students going to school. Of course, he found no problem with this seeing as how he was a slightly above average students with grades that a good chunk of his peers seem to find trouble obtaining. That and he felt the constant advancements to society deemed it necessary to try and keep up with the times as best as his intellectual abilities would allow him to.

However, he found the part about the betterment of overall character to be more of a myth than an actual truth. Starting in elementary school, he has always been considered to be the awkward kid in his classes. With the exception of the teachers and forced participation in group projects, all of the students would give little regard to him as if he simply did not exist in the class. He had quickly learned to take these silent treatments with a grain of salt and mainly hung out by himself during recess under a tree with a book in his hands. Nobody would bother him during this time, and he was happy immersed in the imaginary world of his book despite not being companioned by anyone.

Unfortunately, his revered quiet moments during class breaks and lunch failed to last when he moved onto middle school. While the in-class scenario stayed relatively the same, the ten-minute passing periods between classes and the lunch breaks became somewhat of a torture. With the passage into middle school came the need for some of the students to start building up their reputations. Naturally, this also meant that the occasional bouts of bullying would surface and rear its ugly head to unsuspecting students if it had not already done so in the latter years of elementary.

With him, it meant that people would purposefully bump into him during the short trek to their next classes regardless whether or not it was crowded. Whenever he moved out of the way of somebody while walking, the other person would purposefully move back into his path while under the guise of paying attention to an incoming text message. And even when he chose an out-of-the-way portion of the playground during lunch to read his book, some people would actually come and pick on him as if they had nothing better to do. On the rare occasion during lunch hour, the bullies would actually beat up on him because of his hair's natural ratty appearance and his overall small and skinny frame that would continue on into his high school years. That and his choice for a hiding place also happened to be rather well-secluded from most teachers' view.

While most in William's shoes would have easily become despondent to the world and harbor dark thoughts from these acts of bullying and constant loneliness, luck made it so that he would be one of the few exceptions to this rule. The one key thing that made him into the lucky exception: one blond haired, blue-eyed guy who he was lucky to become quick friends with during the sixth grade. For him, this one friend was his entire support system, both physically and emotionally, in both his greatest and darkest of moments. The name of the person he considered to be his best friend was Theodore Altman.

Theodore, or Teddy as he prefers to be called, was, as stated earlier, a blond haired guy with eyes as blue as the deep dark sea that shimmered with endless amount of energy and life. His stature was larger than William yet not so much that he seemed all muscly and looked like prime bully-material. In fact, his very attitude could only be described as both caring and protective of those he cares about, attributes that seem to be lacking somewhat with the current generation of school teenagers.

He had first met William, or Billy as he has come to nickname him, back in the fifth grade in a fashion that he considered to be a complete accident. As Billy had explained to him once before, he had one of his rare mornings where the situation deemed it necessary for him to arrive to school late. As such, he was practically speed walking through the hallway in order to try and mitigate whatever punctuality speech his teacher might plan on giving him and not paying attention to what was in front of him. At the same time, Teddy had just arrived at the school as a new student and was wandering around like a lost child while trying his best to look for his assigned classroom. Needless to say, they were both not paying attention to what was in front of them and ended up inevitably bumping into each other with enough force to be knocked off their feet.

Being that he was shy and hardly had a lot of socializing experience; Billy found it to be somewhat hard to make adequate eye contact and could only manage to stammer out an apology. Teddy, however, was quick to both clearly apologize and get to his feet before offering a hand to the other who hesitantly accepted it. He then started back on his way to class to avoid being any later than he already was before stopping a second later upon hearing the other calling out to him to wait. That was when Billy figured out that it was Teddy's first time at this school and that he needed help locating his class. Needless to say, they were both in the same class and he led the new student to their destination.

From then on, the two had become the best of friends in what could possibly be considered the fastest time in the history of friend-making. Not even after five minutes from accidentally bumping into each other, Teddy was quick to defend Billy from the teacher's inevitable decree of detention for being tardy by saying he was simply helping him find the office before leading him here. And when it came to overall classroom activities, he was also the only one in the class who even bothered to try and talk to him and help him whenever it was needed. And even when it was recess or lunch time, Teddy would instead spend whatever time he could just keeping Billy company and talking about whatever came to mind. Basically, they became joined to the hip the moment they first met.

And this was what Billy was currently daydreaming about while sitting under a shady oak tree in a secluded corner of the quad area of George F. Baker High School in rural Southfields, New York that hardly anybody passed by. With a slightly faded black backpack resting next to him and a novel in his hands that he was pretending to read, he had been thinking back on the events that made him into the shy and hardly confident teenager he was today. However, he credited his long friendship with Teddy for helping him out through the tortures and emotional rides that was middle school and for standing up for him against bullies when he could not himself. If it were not for having met him that day, he would probably end up being a lot worse than he was now.

He always wondered how differently things might have become if he had actually arrived on time the day he had met Billy instead of being late. Sure, they still would have ended up attending the same class, but they might have not bothered even trying to talk to one another. They could have just as easily kept their distance from each other and minded their own business apart from whatever group project they might have paired up for. He would then have had nobody to fall back to when bullies became just too unbearable or to voice his troubles to whenever he just needed his moment to vent. And if worse came to worst, he might actually not be sitting under this tree in this school's quad at this very moment. In fact, he might not even be in existence at all, and he always shuddered a bit like he did now whenever his mind unwillingly crossed over to that dark thought.

"I figured you'd be lounging around here today," a voice that sounded like it was past adolescence yet still retaining that hint of childishness suddenly said in an amused tone. "I admit that this is a pretty good place, but shouldn't you try finding another place to hang out? But yeah, what are you so deep in thought about, Billy?"

Startled out from his deep inner thoughts, Billy tilted his head up and saw Teddy standing before him and looking at him with a warm smile. His blue eyes held a kind of amused curiosity in them as his short blond hair slightly swayed in the light late summer breeze, his bangs performing the brunt force of the movement. Both his ears had several piercings on them which easily gave him a sort of tough guy look yet oddly enough accentuated a more vulnerable side of him in that he was different from everybody else. Everything else about him was hard to see due to the blinding sunlight shining from behind him and forcing him to squint a bit.

"I happen to like hanging out under this tree, Teddy," the raven haired teen replied in a voice that seemed to have just gotten into the puberty stage with hardly any deepness to it as he put the book he really was not reading on top of his backpack and scooted over a bit. "And I'm just reading my book here. The only thinking I was doing was imagining the scenery written down on here."

"Hmm, I wonder if either of us knows how much of a complete lie that is?" the other asked rhetorically in a teasing tone as he took a seat next to Billy from the space that had been made. He then said after straightening out his white shirt a bit and allowing himself to relax against the tree, "Come on; you got to give your best friend some more credit than that. We've known each other for a little over five years now and are practically like brothers. I know when it is you're thinking or reading. You have a habit of furrowing your eyebrows a bit whenever you're thinking."

"…When is it that you started to figure out everything about me? I'm not that easy of a person to read, am I?"

"Only at face value. And for the record, I don't consider knowing whether or not you're reading to be a part of the face value package. That's something best friends like us quickly learn to pick up on when exposed to each other for so long."

"Geez, you're making it sound like I'm some kind of toxic chemical hanging around in the air or something," Billy responded with a roll of his eyes at the other's interesting choice of words. "You should think a bit more about what you're going to say before you say it in case you confuse or insult someone. But then again, I suppose that's a part of your charm that makes you into who you are."

"I guess I'm supposed to take that as a compliment when coming from you," Teddy replied with a small chuckle before digging into his backpack he had placed beside him earlier and taking out a brown bagged lunch. "Anyway, didn't your mom pack you your lunch today? I know how she still likes to do stuff like that for her little baby son. You choosing not to eat today or something?"

"First of all, both my mom and dad are in Baltimore, Maryland at a medical science convention," the other teen corrected with a shy smile at the lunch packing comment before quickly diving into his backpack and procuring his lunch. "I ended up making my own lunch. And secondly, I was kind of preoccupied with something while walking here that the thought about eating never crossed my mind."

"I could tell," the blond said with a nod before taking a bite of his sandwich. He then asked with his mouth full, "What exactly were you thinking about? You seemed pretty deep into it since you missed the fact I was blocking the sunlight for you."

"…It wasn't anything important. I was just brooding over some…pointless things."

"Let me guess; you were thinking about all those 'what if' moments again where we never ended up meeting and becoming best of friends. You were wondering how things would've turned out if things didn't pan out the way they did. Am I anywhere being remotely right with that guess?"

Instead of providing an answer, Billy chose to take a bite of his sandwich so that he could preoccupy his mouth. Both of them knew he did not like to talk with food in his mouth and that it really was just a way to refrain from outright answering the question. Apparently, this action was more than enough to supply Teddy with his answer.

"Billy, how many times have I told you to stop worrying about things that never ended up happening?" the blond asked with a frown as he swallowed his food. "It's not going to do you any good constantly thinking about how things could've ended up. For one, I really don't think it's healthy to be thinking like that because of possible insecurity issues. Secondly, you're just going to end up putting yourself into one of your depression sessions again.

"Now I'm not saying that I won't be by your side the next time you get into one of those moments," he quickly added with a comforting glance. "You know I'm always more than happy to help you out with whatever problems you've got. I know you prefer to talk to me about these things rather than your mom being how you say she might get all psychological on you or something. I'm just saying that you should try harder on your part to avoid getting caught in those depressive spirals in the first place. Don't you know how much it hurts me when I see you in one of your bad moments?"

"I know, but you know how my brain is always just thinking random things that somehow lead up to things I'd rather not think about," Billy admitted with a small sigh as he now seemed content to just stare at his lunch. "I can't rewire it to stop thinking like that. Then again, I suppose spending most of elementary school alone with only my thoughts to keep me company can make it hard to rewire."

"Don't let the memories of behaviors of guys who bullied you from your elementary school days get to you. The actions of people don't make you into who you indefinitely are, although I do admit it does to some small extent play a role in it. How you ultimately end up viewing yourself as is what really counts. So tell me; how do you honestly think of yourself as right now?"

"…Something tells me you were a psychiatrist or something in a past life," the raven haired teen said with a quiet chuckle that gave birth to a small grin. "Anyway, you want to know how I see myself? I see myself as one of the luckiest guys in the world to have such a caring and considerate friend like you who would drop everything just to tend to my emotional crap and whatnot. I see myself as the bullied teen who can handle anything the world throws at me so long as you're there to be my pillar of support should I ever need it. Overall, I see myself as a pretty happy guy despite all the crap life has thrown at me."

"…So long as you genuinely think like that, there should be no reason for your mind to be wandering to those dark 'what if' thoughts," Teddy replied with a genuinely wide smile gracing his face before affectionately rubbing Billy's head with his free hand despite the other's protests. "And if it makes you feel any better, I know that we'd still be friends even if we didn't end up bumping into each other in the hallway. I'm the kind of guy who just has to talk to everybody in class and get a feel for them all. You're definitely the kind of guy I'd trust to talk about anything, so I know we'd be friends either way. Now stop thinking about things like that and concentrate on what you've got going ahead of you."

"How can I do that when you're trying to rub a hole into my head?" Billy whined half-heartedly as he managed to duck away from the action and attempted to make a frown that ended up looking like a screwed up half-smile. "You better not do that again unless you want my sandwich ending up on your face."

"You do that and it'll be my sandwich on your face next," the blond countered with a toothy grin before finishing off said lunch and brushing the crumbs off of his brown jean shorts. "Just remember that things are never as bad as they seem, especially when you have someone to see it through with you."

"Alright; enough with the psychiatrist talk," the other complained with an amused roll of his eyes before quickly finishing up his lunch. "As much as I like your mental pick-me-ups, it kind of gets annoying after a while."

"I thought best friends were supposed to be reasonably annoying to each other. It helps to refresh the friendship connection every now and then, you know?"

Before he could say anything else, the school bell rang and signified the end to the lunch period. Almost as if rehearsed, herds of people suddenly started appearing in the quad as it was the central point of the school that most students had to pass through in order to reach their classes after lunch hour. Even Billy and Teddy reacted like clockwork and began packing up their backpacks in preparation to head to their respective classes.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in sixth period," Billy said as he got up and shouldered his backpack, his black shirt wrinkling up a bit at the action. "Here's to hoping that history isn't going to too much of a bore today."

"With the teacher you have, I can guarantee you it's going to be boring," Teddy replied as he stretched his arms which caused his blue shirt to lift up and show off ever the slightest amount of skin from his stomach along with a rainbow-colored belt hanging around his waist. "Trust me; I had him last year for Freshman history."

"I was being sarcastic there," the raven haired teen stated as he caught a quick glimpse at the belt just before it was covered once again by the shirt. "Oh yeah, today's the first day of Pride Week, isn't it?"

"Yeah, my second period teacher has been reminding us about it for the past week. I didn't think you were interested in stuff like that."

"Well, I wouldn't say that I'm interested in it per se; you know how I don't really like to participate in school festivities and stuff like that. I just know that you like to be a part of it ever since you figured out what Pride Week was back in sixth grade. And just like I said when you first told me then, I'm real happy that you've trusted me enough to tell me you were gay. So what're you planning on doing this year?"

"Eh, probably the same as I did last year: just keep a pretty low profile and 'accidentally' let my belt show when I stretch my arms. It'd kind of be like what I did just a few seconds ago, except that really wasn't meant to be on purpose. It's really funny, though, how everybody thinks I'm an advocate for gay people instead of being actually gay myself. It's not like I'm purposefully being a closet case or anything like that; I just don't think it's anybody's business, except for you, what's going on in my everyday life."

"Hey, a lot of the girls here, and maybe even some of the gay guys here, are desperately wishing that a beauteous hunk of body like you will become their boyfriend," Billy teased with a chuckle as Teddy gave him a playful punch in the arm. "They'd do anything to try and get hooked up with you. Then again, you are one of the popular guys in school. If you think about it, nobody ever thinks whether or not popular people are gay or straight."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right about that," Teddy admitted as he gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "I guess the popularity line has yet to merge with the homosexuality line. Oh well, what can you do about that? This just means that there are a lot more boundaries that still need to be broken in terms of stereotypes.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" he suddenly exclaimed as the crowd of students began to thin out a bit. "There was something very important that I wanted to talk to you about. Do you think you could wait for me at the front of the school when we're done?"

"Since when have I ever not waited for you after school?" the other rhetorically asked before nodding his head yes to the request. "We both have the same last period class that we're forced to suffer through, you know? But don't you have to go to baseball or karate practice when school's over?"

"Baseball season doesn't start until the springtime and the karate meeting was cancelled for the entire week since Hawkeye is out right now on vacation or something. And in case you're wondering, that's what we call Coach Bishop since she's also a deadeye in the archery club. I pretty much have a lot of time to kill."

"Alright, if you say so. Think you could throw me a bone or something at least so I won't be left wondering what you're going to tell me?"

"Sorry, but I'm not giving you any hints this time around. If you really want to know, then just wait for me after school.

"But yeah, we better get going before we're late," the blond quickly changed the subject before doing a semi-jog to his class. "You better hurry on your way, too. Your class is all the way on the other side of the world!"

Before Billy could say anything against that, Teddy had turned the corner and away from his sight. Instead, he just chose to shake his head in amusement before speed-walking towards his class in the same fashion as if he had been late five years ago to his elementary class. He honestly could not ask for a better friend than Theodore Altman who was so friendly and willing to lend a welcoming ear whenever necessary.

_And speaking of such, I think I have a couple of things I want to tell him myself,_ Billy suddenly thought as he continued on past the hallway the blond had turned into. He had apparently already entered his class since he did not see any sign of him when he looked. _I can't believe I haven't told him yet that I'm gay. Then again, I only just figured it out myself a few months ago and was just testing the waters. I'm sure he'd understand why I was hesitant to say it to him if I explained it like that._

_ I wonder what he'd say if I told him I've been using him as my test subject for my overall feelings this whole time?_ he allowed himself to think as an impish grin made it to his face as the one-minute warning bell rang. _I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I told him he's the reason I became gay. I guess we both have something important to say to each other after school. Here's to hoping that he actually likes me more than just a best friend._

And with his grin changing to an almost dreamy smile, Billy managed to make it into his class just as the tardy bell rang and escape the wrath of his history teacher. Amazingly, he managed to make this short trip with no instances of bullying whatsoever. He then cleared his mind of any stray thoughts and went straight into learning mode that also doubled as stay-awake mode for this particular class. Because of this transition, he failed to hear three sets of police sirens pass right by the school in complete succession that managed to catch the attention of a few other students.

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Hello again! I'm just here to say a couple more things about this story now that you've read it!

First of all, I'm sorry once again if these characters are OOC. However, I've tried to compensate for that by adding in details that relate to their actual characters in the comic world.

And just as a little bit of an extra, I put a bit of myself into Billy's character since I could honestly relate to his character. While I myself had never been physically bullied in my life, a lot of people always felt the need to ignore me like I said happened to Billy at the beginning. I just figured that since he had a past that revolved around bullying, why not put in a bit of my experience to make it seem more realistic? Actually, a lot of what I put down for Billy except for obvious portions like meeting with Teddy are from my own personal experiences.

And the conversation that happened between him and Teddy, it's something that I always give to myself when I'm in those depressive moments. Yes, my brain, as a sort of protection from always being a loner and ignored, kind of created a separate mental personality of myself who's a lot tougher and blunter than my actual character. Unfortunately, that part of me is still in my mind, but I've made it so that it's also my morally correct and reasonable portion of me.

But yeah, I'm living proof of one possible outcome of what bullying, be it through physical or psychological means, can do to a person. I just consider myself lucky to a point that my mental split personality actually worked with me instead of against me. So if any of you out there are bullies, think twice next time you think about going at someone or purposefully ignoring them. You never know what you're doing to them on the inside even though they show no outward signs of problems.

And for those who are victims of bullies, believe me when I say that it definitely gets better. Trust me; I wouldn't have started my own account here three years ago if one of my few high school friends I managed to befriend encouraged me to post my stuff on here. It's because of him I got my confidence to post my stuff on here for you all to read. I've lost connection with him since we've started college, but it's because of him pushing me to post my stuff here that I've more confidence with myself. I still don't have a lot of confidence in my overall self and am still painfully shy, but at least I can now always find solace in my writing.

But yeah, that's enough with my private life and public message to you all. I'll go ahead and leave you all to whatever else you want to do next. Please don't forget to leave a review telling me how you thought I did with the introduction of this story. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody! And also enjoy the new addition I've decided to try out, the outtakes section; bits of the story of how how they might have alternately turned out. Sometimes funny, sometimes not.

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**Outtakes:**

Young Billy: Oh boy, I'm really going to be late! What am I going to tell the teacher?

(Crash!_!_!)

Young Teddy: Ow, what was...?_!_ (Sees Billy lying on floor) Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?

Young Billy: ... (Knocked out on the floor)

Young Teddy: Hello? (Pokes other repeatedly) Uh oh! (Quickly walks away from scene as if nothing happened)

/

Teddy: Hey, Billy! How you doing?

Billy: ... (Asleep under oak tree)

Teddy: Hello? (Starts lightly kicking him) Anyone in there?

Billy: ... (Still sleeping)

Teddy: (Begins digging into backpack while smiling impishly) Hmm, I wonder if he'll mind if I drew some hearts on his face?

/

Billy: So what are you thinking of doing for Pride this week, Teddy?

Teddy: Hmm, I'm thinking of going big this year and go streaking around campus.

Billy: (Blank expression) ...You're not serious, are you?

Teddy: Of course not. (Impish smile) What I'm really thinking about is dressing up as a beautiful rainbow butterfly and spread the word about equal rights for all!

Billy: (Slightly horrified) ...You know, streaking around campus doesn't sound all that bad anymore...

/

Teddy: I have something important to tell you, Billy. Meet me after school today?

Billy: Don't you have baseball or karate practice then?

Teddy: Eh, I can afford to skip one meeting.

Billy: (Unreadable expression) ...Talk to me later tonight after practice.

Teddy: B-But it's important! (Sees Billy's quickly retreating form) God, he can be such a prick about commitments sometime. (Impish smile) I wonder what he thinks about the ultimate commitment?


	2. Nightmare Turned Reality

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this new story that I created and first posted a couple of days ago. It wasn't easy to make it, but listening to the right kind of music really helped me get into the mood that I'm setting this chapter in.

Yes, I know that this is a particularly speedy update in relations to my normally slightly slower updates to my other stories. The reason this is the exception is because I'm quite excited about this story and am right now in a writing high for this particular topic. I hope that you end up enjoying this new chapter as much as you had reading the first chapter.

Let me just give you guys a small warning in terms of how this new chapter is going to be. In the last chapter, it was all friendly and light and all that good stuff. This time, the mood and situation is going to do a complete 180 and take a sudden turn for the worse. I'll explain it a bit more in detail at the end of this chapter after you all had a chance to read the new chapter.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. Since this is a new story, I find it helpful when you all leave reviews saying how you liked it and if there's anything that you would like to see slightly different. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but reviews that are flames disguised as constructive criticism or masked by extremely long reviews are not nice. Trust me; someone once sent me a very long review that sounded nice at the beginning but was really just a flame when you took in the overall message of it.

But yeah, that's enough of my ranting there now. Hope you enjoy this new chapter as much as I had making it. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

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**Chapter 2: Nightmare Turned Reality  
**

As the minutes in fourth period slowly made its way to the hour-and-a-half mark, Billy was finding it harder to not doze off during class. It was not too much of a surprise he was feeling this way seeing as how the history teacher had quite a drawling voice that could make even the most diligent of students nod off. That and he had a habit of not engaging the class in question-and-answer sessions, so it made for a one-sided class conversation that barely even seemed productive.

_How can he expect anyone to learn what he's teaching by talking with that boring tone?_ he silently wondered as he had long since taken to studying on his own by reading through the textbook. _It's almost like he's trying to serenade us to boredom without actually singing a tune! Oh well, at least he's doing a good job keeping to the book. And if Teddy survived with this guy last year, then I should be able to do the same._

With a small yawn that he barely managed to cover, Billy continued to venture into the lecture on his own. He was one of the rare students in his class who actually cared about learning or took it upon themselves to understand the material. Most of the others had long since zoned out and were in their own little world. Some were busy doodling in their notebooks that were meant to house important class notes; others decided to sneak glances at their cell phones, some under desks while others more daring and out in the open.

Being that it was also pretty quiet in the class save for the teacher's voice, he could also hear some of the softer sounds he otherwise would have missed. For example, he could barely hear somebody's iPod going off from somewhere behind him. He could not hear the melody, but the backbeat and percussions were easy to catch without much effort. He had to refrain from bobbing his head up and down to it since he immediately recognized the music that whoever was playing to be one of his favorites. Instead, he settled at drumming his fingers to the beat of both the lyrics and backbeat while skimming through his textbook.

"…And that is what Lincoln managed to accomplish in the days before his unfortunate assassination," he heard the teacher apparently conclude his lecture as he put down the piece of chalk he had been writing with for the past hour-and-a-half and turned around towards the class. In a sort of freaky fashion, every student who was doing something they should not have been doing quickly hid away what little evidence there was of their inattention and pretended to have been diligently taking notes. While they knew it was easy to get away with these things, they also knew there would be definite hell to pay if he happened to catch them since he does not believe in giving out warnings before exacting punishment. "I hope you all managed to catch what I said; it's going to be on the pop quiz I'll be giving you tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, the entire class, Billy included, let out a groan of protest at the thought of having to participate in a surprise test. This was the last thing they wanted to hear, especially since this was the first day any of them had covered any of the information. All the teacher did as a response to them was shrug his shoulders before sneaking a glance at the clock above the doorway.

"By the response you just gave, I'd suspect that you were not paying full attention," he stated as he took a seat at his desk. "If you have been, then there'd be no reason for you to be protesting against a harmless surprise quiz. If you wish, you can spend the last ten minutes of class copying down whatever notes you failed to record. If you don't understand any of the notes, then it'll reflect on your test and put a dent on your grade."

Before he could say anything else in regards to the test, a sudden shrill scream sounded from out in the hallway. A second later, it was accompanied by frantic shouts of panic and cries of hysteria as if somebody had just bore witness to something extremely horrific.

"What in heaven's name…?_!_" the teacher exclaimed as all the students immediately got out from their seats and rushed towards the door. He then instructed in vain to the class to go back to their seats.

Billy, however, felt that it was probably somebody's idea of a prank to scare the pants off of anybody who heard it. It happened once before last year the day before summer vacation started where some guy was stalking his girlfriend in a werewolf costume before suddenly appearing right in front of her and causing a shriek that could wake the dead. It had become the hottest topic on the internet for the majority of summer break.

As such, he decided to stay behind at his desk and began to pack up his things. Class was going to be over in a few minutes, and he already taught himself what was being covered in the day's lesson. He felt no need to be copying any notes since the information was pretty much ripped out from the textbook. All he had to do now was wait for the bell to ring and go to the hallway where he would no doubt see the aftermath of someone's sick idea for a joke.

"What's going on out there?" he heard one of the female students ask in a tone that made it sound like she had just stumbled onto the latest school gossip. He ignored her and made sure everything was in his backpack, especially his laptop since he would need it for his fifth period advance computers class. The last thing he wanted was for it to have been taken by one of his bullies from right under his nose and beg his parents to buy him a new one. "Come on; open the door and let us see!"

"How can I open it when you're crushing my hand against the doorknob?" he heard a male student ask in annoyance as he now checked his pockets for his flash drive, his iPod and headphones, his wallet, and house keys. "Stand back a bit, why don't you? This door needs to be _pulled_ open!"

"Somebody, help me!_!_!" another scream from the hallway was heard before a guttural shout of pain sounded and accompanied by a strange and sickening gurgling noise. Instead of recoiling in fear, the students by the door seemed even more determined to go outside and see what was going on.

A couple of seconds later, the door was finally opened as was indicated by the students now rushing out into the hallways to see what was going on. The teacher, who had been trying to get their attention ever since the first scream was heard, gave a resigned sigh before heading outside himself to see just what was going on. Billy soon followed suit after putting on his backpack since he did not trust it being out of his sights for even one second. Having survived through school as a bullied loner made him slightly paranoid about his things being left alone anywhere except in the company of Teddy.

"Oh my god…!" the teen heard one of the male students gasp out loudly as most of the girls had chosen to scream bloody murder akin to that in typical horror movies! "The hell are those guys doing? Are they really having sex on the floor?_!_"

"Are you blind or something, you idiot?" another student all but screamed in response; Billy had since quickly made his way towards the crowded doorway to see what had everybody so frightened. "You can't have sex fully clothed! And besides, when did screwing each other, faggot style or not, involve _digging into_ someone's stomach?_!_"

_What the hell…?_! he thought as he fought his way through the crowd and into the hallway. Having his backpack on made it harder to do so since it served as an extension of his body mass. _Someone's performing cannibalism out in the middle of the hallway? How in the world can that be possible?_!_ Now I know this has got to be some kind of sick joke, especially when they made it so they could laugh it off as overly kinky gay sex!_

Once he finally fought his way to the front of the crowd, the teen was able to see to some extent what had everybody shouting and screaming. The very moment he laid eyes on the scene was the moment he regretted letting his curiosity get the better of him. Even the other students who had since left their respective classrooms were starting to flood the hallways and looking either sick or freaked out.

All the way at the end of the hallway were a couple of guys lying motionless on the floor, one on his back and the other on his stomach. Hovering over them were a few other people who were walking around in an unexplainably weird fashion. There were also a few kneeling next to the fallen guys with what could be seen even from Billy's position blood dripping off their hands and forming a small pool around them. There must have been a lot of blood being spilled; the metallic scent quickly reached his nose and caused him along with a few others to involuntarily recoil as if he were about to gag.

"Hey, what are you kids doing over there?" the history teacher shouted over the screams as he fought through the crowd and headed towards the scene. Either he was thinking that this was all one elaborate joke or was not fazed at all at the bloody sight taking place in front of him. "If this is your idea of a joke, then it's rather ill-tasting. Even if it were Halloween, you're going way too far with this prank. Pulling off grotesque stunts like this is going to give you a one-way ticket to a suspension!"

By the time he got to where the cannibalism was occurring, the guys eating the fallen students looked at the teacher with a blank yet hungry look in their eyes. He immediately picked one up by his arms roughly and was demanding he explain what this was all about while having his back towards him moving back towards the crowd of students. What happened next shocked just about everybody.

Before the history teacher could even have a chance to react, the guy he was dragging by the arm suddenly lunged forward and sunk his teeth into the back of his neck. And just like the screams that were heard earlier, the man emitted a pained shout that soon turned into a sick gurgling noise as blood quickly spilled from his mouth. He then collapsed to the floor and proceeded to be eaten by the person he had dragged with him.

All the students that bore witness to this immediately started screaming their heads off before taking off on a full-fledged run! People did not care whether or not they were running towards a bunch of cannibalistic people; they just wanted to get out of the hallway where a murder had no doubt just taken place!

"Oh shit!" the teen cursed under his breath as he stood rooted to the spot despite the many people crashing into him in a desperate attempt to get away from the horrid scene. As much as he wanted to run, the imprint of the scene he just saw caused too much of a shock for him to do much else but just stand there in petrified fear like a statue. "This can't possibly be real! Zombies actually exist?_!_"

In the next moment, he was brusquely torn away from his frightened trance by somebody crashing into him and forcing him down to the floor. He ended up landing on top of another person he accidentally took down with him and was slightly crushed by the extra weight that was his backpack sitting on his back. When he looked behind him where he was hit, he noticed a male student looking positively beside himself with fear.

In the next moment, the guy gave out a pain-filled shrill scream that rattled every nerve in Billy's body. When he looked beyond the one who knocked him down, he saw that it was in fact another zombie-like person who had entered from the other side of the hallway and was now gorging on the person's leg!

"Oh god!" Billy exclaimed as he quickly scampered onto his feet and ran straight for the area where his history teacher had been eaten. At this point, his mind was running on autopilot. He could care less just exactly where he was going. All he knew was that he had to get out of this murder-filled hallway as quickly as possible!

Unfortunately, that proved a bit harder than it sounded. Amidst all the chaos and confusion, people were shoving each other this way and that. Students were falling over each other and being slammed into the walls and lockers; some were even unfortunate enough to be pushed into the zombie-like people and thus become their meal. In essence, the panicked evacuation served more as a roadblock for other panicked students rather than a productive evacuation. The teachers, most of which who tried to stay as calm as possible yet looking as pale as ghosts, tried to direct and organize the evacuation to no avail.

By some miraculous feat, the raven haired teen managed to squeeze through the tiny gaps in between the impenetrable wall of panicked students and avoided making any kind of contact with the zombies. Subconsciously, he thanked whatever gods were out there for giving him a rather skinny frame as it helped with the escape process. That and his somewhat weighted backpack provided him with just enough extra weight that he would not be pushed to the ground again unless caught by complete surprise like earlier. However, the pray was short-lived as the many screams of fright and anguish around him quickly added more fuel to his panicked escape that would no doubt lead to problems if he did not start calming down.

"God…damn it!" he grunted as he squeezed through the very crowded hallway doors and was now in the outside school paths that led to the quad and deeper into the school. "It's like all hell broke loose around here! Just what is going on?_!_"

Instead of receiving an answer to his otherwise rhetorical question, he was greeted with the sound of breaking glass. Looking around him in a panicked frenzy for the location of said sound, he failed to see anything of the sort because of the mass panic and confusion that seemed to have now spread throughout much of the school. In fact, it seemed as though the incident that took place in the hallway was also taking place in other parts of the school seeing as how he was now looking down the path opposite the quad and seeing zombies walking towards them and eating away at their unfortunate victims.

"How did these things just appear out of nowhere?_!_" Billy shouted out as he decided to make his way towards the quad where it would be somewhat easier to regain his bearings and hopefully less of a panicked atmosphere. "Shouldn't campus security have caught the zombies wandering around before this mass panic?"

As his frantic mind tried to work out a reasonable answer to how this catastrophe came to be, he continued to run past every hallway. Most of them had students flooding out of them looking around in confusion as to what all the commotion was about. Some were even daring enough to head towards the zombies without knowing the dangers of doing so. A few students who were relatively calm despite the franticness tried to warn them, but some chose to simply ignore the warnings. Billy would have done the same thing, but the last thing on his mind right now was to warn anybody who happened to have been heading in that direction. All he wanted to do was to get out of this school before any zombies made him into their dinner, an idea he was not planning to entertain anytime soon.

"…Teddy!" he suddenly exclaimed in a breathless manner as he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. A few people who happened to have been following close behind him shouted some choice profanity at him before continuing on with their escape. "He probably doesn't know what's going on yet. I got to find him!"

With that thought in mind, Billy quickly turned around and headed towards the hallway where he knew Teddy's classroom was in. Thankfully for him, said hallway was less than a couple of seconds away being that he had stopped just after passing it. However, the panic was now quickly growing along with the crowd of students as it now seemed that every hallway from his classroom and here have been warned about the zombies. Still, he chose to fight through the crowd in order to get into the hallway that held Teddy's classroom so he could tell him what was happening if he did not already know.

Once he got into the correct hallway, he noticed that the crowd had yet to enter a state of panic. This meant that the students here had yet to get the full story of what had just taken place and were just plain confused. However, that quickly changed as a scream was heard coming from the other end of the hall along with the panicked shouts of students telling everybody to run. And as if on cue, everybody began running away from the shouts and out to the outer corridors of the school.

Now knowing that he had little time to find Teddy before he followed the panicked crowd outside, Billy forced his way through the oncoming crowd of people in search for the blond. Unfortunately, this feat proved to be very difficult seeing as how his somewhat skinny frame hardly held any kind of resistant force to push through whatsoever. All he could manage was probably moving ahead a couple of feet for every ten seconds at best, a feat that was clearly unproductive in the current situation since Teddy's class was located all the way on the other side of the hall!

"Teddy!_!_!" he resorted to shouting out his friend's name. It ended up falling on deaf ears since his voice paled in comparison to the dozens of shouts and screams that drowned out any other noise around him. Still, he knew he had to try something to find him. "Can you hear me? We got to get out of here!"

Before he could get another word in, the resistive force of the crowd finally became too much for him. Having exhausted his strength fighting against the current, Billy allowed himself to be pushed back out from where he had come in. Once outside, he began frantically looking around for that familiar lock of blond hair dashing past him. However, he could only spare a couple of seconds doing that as he noticed that most of the people from the direction he had originally come from had left. This allowed him a front seat view of the fallen students and many zombies that were slowly making their way towards him.

Deciding to temporarily abandon his search for Teddy, the raven haired teen made a mad dash towards the quad. If he could just get there, then he could spend just a little more time looking for his best friend and figure out the safest way out of here in the process. How long he would have to do so was a completely different story seeing as how the situation was getting more dangerous by the second.

Once he arrived, he began his frantic search once again. Just like last time in the hallway, he failed to see any signs that Teddy was here, although he did subconsciously admit that he was not fighting against any kind of current this time. It did make it somewhat easier for him and his frantic mind to conduct a productive search. He even tried shouting out the blonde's name again seeing as how the screams were not as loud as they were in such a condensed space like the hallway. Unfortunately, this failed to yield any kind of results as he did not receive a response he was hoping for.

"Where the hell are you, Teddy?" Billy murmured under his breath in worry as he kept on with his frantic search. "You couldn't have gotten caught by those zombie guys. You're too good for that!"

"Billy!" he suddenly heard his name being shouted over the panicked screams of students. "Are you here? Say something if you can hear me!"

Surprised by this, the raven haired teen's eyes immediately lit up with hope as he turned towards the left side of the quad where the other hallway exit that Teddy might have taken would have led him to. Sure enough, he saw the familiar sight of his best friend frantically scanning the area for him.

"Teddy!_!_!" he shouted out as he cupped his hands over his mouth to try and get his voice to travel further.

Sure enough, said blond quickly turned his attention towards him and allowed a look of pure relief to approach his face. However, the expression quickly changed to that of fright and panic as his eyes grew wide.

"Billy, behind you!" Teddy shouted as Billy turned around out of reflex.

The next moment, the raven haired teen was face-to-face with a monstrous face dripping blood from its mouth no less than two feet away from him! With a yelp of surprise, he tried to back away but ended up falling over since the zombie had managed to get a firm grip on his shirt. As such, he was now on his back with the monster on top of him snarling and trying to take a bite out of him.

Fueled by both adrenaline and instinct, Billy brought his right hand up to the monster's throat to prevent it from coming closer and thus be in a position to sink its teeth into him. This proved to be harder to pull off than he initially thought since the creature was practically using its full weight to its advantage to get close to the teen. Noticing this, he decided to try his luck at punching the creature's lights out with frantic but well-aimed hits to the head to try and deter it from its goal. Unfortunately, this hardly did anything as the zombie seemed unfazed by this and even further driven to chomp him to bits.

"Get off of him, you monster!" the blond shouted as he suddenly appeared right next to his fallen friend. In the next moment, he delivered a strong and swift kick to the zombie's ribs that caused it to go flying a few feet away from them and unintentionally tripping up another zombie that was walking towards them. He then asked in both fear and concern with an arm outstretched, "You okay, Billy?"

"Do you even have to ask?" the raven haired teen snapped back with perhaps a little bit more venom than he meant as he accepted the hand and was quickly brought to his feet. "I almost got eaten there! And I've seen people being eaten by these zombie people! Do you think I'm okay, Teddy?_!_"

"Billy, calm down!" Teddy said in a stern yet calming tone as he placed comforting hands on the other's shoulders. "I can't deal with you going on a nervous breakdown! It isn't going to help us. Just take a deep breath and relax."

Probably because he was in front of the one person he trusted with his very life, Billy's frantic mind to heed of the advice and started to calm down. Even amidst all the chaos around him, he managed to block out all the screams and concentrate on relaxing. He continued taking deep calming breaths for the next few seconds until he was finally able to think somewhat clearly without going into a full-on panic.

"…Okay, I'm feeling better now," Billy responded as he let out another deep breath and looked Teddy in the eyes. "Sorry for going crazy there."

"How about we try worrying about other things for now?" the blond suggested as he nodded his head towards the direction where the other teen had first came from. "I think we got some unwanted company."

Looking behind him, the teen noticed that the outer corridor he had taken to get here was now swarming with zombies. He even recognized one of them to be his history teacher who he remembered saw being killed just minutes ago! They all had hungry looks in their eyes and were quickly filling their portion of the quad with their presence.

"Shit, we have to get out of here!" he exclaimed as he turned his gaze back at Teddy as if expecting him to come up with an idea. "Is the outer corridor you took to get here filled with zombies? That's the only way that leads to the front gates."

"I think you already know the answer to that," Teddy murmured under his breath as he frantically scanned the quad for any signs of a safe exit. He then saw the cafeteria doors wide open with some students running into the room. He then said as he dragged Billy along by the arm, "Come on; we're heading to the cafeteria! That should be a safe place to hide out until this whole thing blows over."

"You sure that's going to work?" Billy asked as he looked behind him and saw the zombies now starting to overrun the quad and taking down whoever was unfortunate enough to be in their way. "It's starting to look a lot like it's a horde of zombies attacking. Are we really going to be safe in there?"

"Well, we could always leave the school through the loading area of the cafeteria kitchen if push comes to shove. However, that's the best place we can go right now considering the zombies coming in the directions of our other exits."

Instead of arguing with the suggestion, the raven haired teen simply went along with the idea and continued to allow himself to be dragged by the blond. That and he did not have a better idea that he could counter with. All he could do now was look around him and see students running in all directions desperately trying to get away from the zombies.

* * *

So, how do you all like that for a sudden change in the story? I purposefully made the first chapter sound like everything was going to be normal since this new chapter is going to introduce the main theme of this story.

Also, I had forgotten to mention this in the last chapter. The title for this story is Latin for "Living Dead". Actually, I kind of accidentally on purpose left that fact out so you would not have an idea as to what I was going to write about. But now that I've already given away the main subject here, I figure that it's safe to tell you the real meaning of the title. And sorry if the title sounds very sucky and all that.

But yeah, that's how things are going to get here now. Let's see how Teddy and Billy are going to deal with all this. At least the blond seems somewhat calm despite everything going on. the raven haired teen, however, seems a bit beside himself. Then again, that's to be expected since he's seen people being eaten and killed right before his eyes. I can't really say the same for Teddy right now, but everyone is really in a panic now.

And speaking of panic, I hope I did a good job describing everything that was happening. After all, the only way to really put down on paper, or computer in this case, the chaos taking place there is to write it down and be as descriptive as possible without overdoing it. So I hope I did a good job and made you all feel like you were in that situation.

Now with all that out of the way, please don't forget to leave a review before you leave. As I said before, it is always very helpful to me in seeing how you readers are liking the story. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!

And now to the outtakes section. Just one thing about that; unlike in the last chapter where they were all pretty much funny, there will be times where they are quite serious or ideas that I came up with while writing the chapter. Just kind of giving you a peek at what was going on in my mind when I was writing this. Until next time everybody!

* * *

**Outtakes:**

History teacher: ...And this was what happened before Lincoln's assassination. Does anybody have any questions?

Billy: ...(Sleeping with head in hand)

History teacher: ...Mr. Kaplan?

Billy: ...(Still sleeping)

History teacher: Mr. Kaplan! (Loudly slams his desk)

Billy: ...!_!_! (Wakes with start and falls out of chair)

/

Student: Hey, someone's having sex out in the hallway!

Student 2: Are you blind? How can you have sex with all your clothes on?

Student: Maybe they "prepared" beforehand so they wouldn't have to take off their clothes.

Student 2: Even if that were the case, since when did faggot sex involve literally eating each other?_!_

Student: Maybe it's like one of those blood brother rituals. After all, gay sex is totally different from straight sex.

Billy: ..._Is that guy really being serious?_! _What an idiot!_

/

Billy: ...I forgot about Teddy! (Stops right in tracks)

Student: Hey, what are you doing idiot?

Billy: Sorry, but I need to find someone!

Student: Then do it without blocking my way! (Roughly shoves Billy aside)

Billy: Hey! (Falls to floor and hits head on ground, now unconscious)

(Zombies comes few seconds later and gorges on Billy)

/

Teddy: Billy, where are you?_!_

Billy: Teddy! Over here!

Teddy: (Looks shocked) Behind you!

Billy: What? (Turns around and is knocked down by zombie) Help!_!_!

(Proceeds to get bitten in the neck by zombie)

Teddy: Billy!_!_!_!_! (Runs to zombie and kicks it away from Billy, but it's already too late) No, don't be dead...! (Kneels down Billy's body and stares into his lifeless eyes) Don't die on me!

Billy: ...!_!_! (Suddenly raises up and bites Teddy in the neck)

Teddy: B-Billy...!_!_! (Struggles before falling to ground dead)


	3. A Moment's Reprieve Gone Wrong

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story that I seem to be on a speed update for right now. What can I say? I'm pretty much on a writing high right now in regards to this story. I don't know why, but I'm all of a sudden into the whole zombie-survival mode right now. I guess that's because of the Resident Evil 6 game coming out in October, but I think the real reason is because I've been watching playthroughs of the Walking Dead game on youtube. Combine that with the fact that I only discovered the Young Avengers at the same time and you got this crazy story idea. Oh well, I'm glad it happened like this or this story would have never been born.

However, the Young Avengers part is about to be rectified! You see, I have a PSP along with access to the PSN store. I've noticed that there was a comic section on there and looked at it in curiosity. To my pleasant surprise, the entire twelve issues of the Young Avengers is available. Yay! Now I can read them and finally have a more concrete idea on the characters' actual personas! Hopefully, I'll be able to integrate that into this story if it's not already too late. But yay me! I can now read the series!

But yeah, that's enough of my crazy rants that I'm sure none of you even bother reading half the time unless I probably put it in bold and labeled it as important. I'm going to keep this somewhat short since it's like right now 1:30 in the morning where I am. By the time I finish the outtakes section and post this on the story, it'd probably be a quarter until two. But I'm so stoked about this story that I'll lose sleep over it.

However, that's most likely not going to be happening very often from here on in. As of today, I will be starting college for this quarter. As such, I'll be concentrating on my work and stuff and less on this. Don't worry; this will continue to be worked on while I concentrate on school. It's just that I'll have to significantly slow down with these updates. And yes, I can afford sleeping late today since my class doesn't start until like one in the afternoon tomorrow.

Anyway, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. I've noticed that like over a hundred people have already read my story, and not one has left a review. What, is my writing really that terrible that you cringe at the thought of leaving a review? That makes me sad. :( But all kidding aside, please leave a review telling me how you like this idea. It really does help keep my morale up for this story in seeing how interested you people are for this. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Moment's Reprieve Gone Wrong  
**

As Billy was being dragged by Teddy across the quad to the cafeteria doors, he decided to take a quick look at the area to see how things were going. Not to his surprise, things were beyond hectic and only getting worse by the second. Students and teachers alike were running in all directions trying to get away from the zombies that were now quickly flooding the area. Some ran into nearby classrooms and shut the doors behind them while inadvertently locking people out; others followed the two's lead and headed towards the cafeteria. Overall, it looked and felt like a war had reached their school and they were running for their lives to avoid being in the line of fire. The only difference here was that there was no friendly army around to oppose the enemy. They were left to fend for themselves.

By the time the teens had reached the doors, two students were in the process of shutting them closed. Knowing what they were planning, the blond teen hastened his speed in order to beat the closing of the doors. In the process, Billy nearly tripped at the sudden acceleration and would have fallen flat on his face were it not for the firm hand gripping his wrist keeping him upright. Thankfully for them, the cafeteria doors happened to be rather large and heavy and thus took a bit of time to close. Just as they were about to be shut out, the two managed to squeeze into the barely passable gap before the doors officially closed behind them.

Now granted momentary reprieve from the chaotic situation outside, Billy felt his arm become free from the death grip of Teddy's hand. He then took a seat on a nearby cafeteria bench in an attempt to catch his breath from both the speed dash and the hectic situation that had him running in hyper adrenaline mode for the past five minutes. He also noticed some other students leaning against the walls either catching their breaths or crying over the hell they have just witnessed. It was clear that they were all gravely affected by this; even a couple of people who he recognized to have bullied him on a constant basis were reduced to bawling messes as they curled up in their secluded corners.

Teddy, however, had other things on his mind apart from relaxing if his face were not any indication of it. With both shock and anger reflecting from his eyes, he was quickly right in the guy's face who only looked back with an unreadable expression.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?_!_" Teddy exclaimed angrily as he turned as he noticed the other student, a girl, frantically looking around for something. The guy faltered a bit at the tone and harsh gaze but stood his ground; the girl soon took a nearby mop from a janitor's cart and jammed it into the door handles. "There are still people out there trying to look for a place to hide. Open up those doors and let them in!"

"You got a death wish or something, Teddy?" the male student exclaimed as he looked at the blond as if he had gone crazy. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but those zombie guys were practically right at you and your friend's tails when you barely squeezed in here! I wouldn't be surprised if they're at the door now. Do you know how many people you'd be putting in danger if you opened them up? I know you're a nice guy and all that, but I'm not going to listen to your shouts at me to open this door just so you could save a couple more stragglers. It might end up being the last and stupidest decision you ever made in your life!"

"Still, you could've afforded to leave it open for a few more seconds!" the blond countered angrily as the sound of frantic cries and pounding at the door reached his ears. The girl screamed at this, but none of the others paid any heed to her. "There was still a bit of time left before the zombies got here. If Billy and I had arrived even a second later than we did, would you still leave us out there to die? I know you see me as your greatest friend on the baseball field, Greg. You always say that you'll have my back no matter what. Would you go back on your word and leave me out there if it had happened?"

"…I'm sorry, but it's me and my girlfriend's life before yours," the male student called Greg responded after a moment of pause and flinching momentarily as a blood curdling scream was heard from behind the doors. "And besides, there are other people here who had arrived way before you two. I'm not going to risk all their lives just to save one more life who just happened to be a second too late entering this cafeteria!"

"…You're an asshole, you know that?" Teddy growled out angrily as he gave a look of disgust at his baseball teammate before turning his back on him. The other simply rolled his eyes at the comment as if it were unfounded. He then added in warning as he took a seat next to Billy, "If you keep on caring about nothing but making sure your own ass is safe, then you're not going to last long in any situation. You better start learning how to think what's best for others, not just for yourself."

"Well, at least I'm making the most sensible choice here!" Greg countered rather weakly as he took the girl's hand and walked further into the cafeteria where most of the other students had gathered. At the same time, he ignored the continued screams of anguish coming from outside along with the desperate pounding at the jammed door. "And what gave you the impression that I'm only thinking about keeping my own ass safe? I got my own girl here to take care of! I could care less about anyone else right now!"

With that slightly vehement exclamation leaving his mouth, Greg and his presumed girlfriend disappeared into the crowd of students that were gathered further into the cafeteria. Teddy simply gave out a long and disappointed sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose as if trying to stave off an oncoming headache. It was clear he did not like the choice of words and decision his baseball teammate had just made, but there was not anything he could do about it now. All he could do now was just listen to the pitiful cries for help coming from the other side of the door and be forced to refuse their simple request.

Billy, on the other hand, merely stared at the blond after having calmed down somewhat from his panicked high and trying his best to ignore the frightening and demoralizing screams. As much as he had wanted to add something to the now dead argument, he had felt it best to keep his mouth shut in case all he did was add more fuel to the tense situation. That and because his brain was busy recovering from the hyper adrenaline high that resulted from this, he was not in much of a position to argue about anything much less supply his own opinion on this. He was just, for lack of a better phrase, brain dead at that particular moment.

"…Do you think we should try opening the door just in case that guy was wrong?" the raven haired teen quietly suggested after about a minute of silence. His words sounded softer than he had intended it to be as it seemed like he was losing his voice. "There might be some time left to squeeze some others in."

"No, we spent too much time arguing," the blond responded as he looked at the doorway and noticed a small river of blood flowing from underneath it. "The zombies are already on the other side of the door. Damn it; I should've just ignored him and opened those doors! I know we had more time when he closed those doors. It's because of that we have some people dying out there who shouldn't be!"

"I-It's not your fault, Teddy!" the other said in a comforting tone as he placed his arm over the other's shoulders. His mind barely registered that the blond had, like him, managed to put on his backpack before realizing the full extent of the panic. "You were just trying to convince him that you were right before doing anything. And besides, I'm sure he would've done anything to stop you the moment you put your hands on the door handles. That door would've most likely stayed closed no matter what you did."

"…I guess you got a point there, Billy. Greg may not look it, but he can hold his own pretty well in a fist fight. I've seen him do it with an opposing team's player before. I don't care how much of an ass I think him to be, I'm not going to fight him even if he ended punching me to get me to stop. And as much as I hate saying it, he's probably right about this like he usually is about most other things."

"So what if he happened to be right on this occasion? Does he ever listen or even try out other people's suggestions if they happen to go against his plans? I never met Greg before, but I got a feeling from hearing him talk that he's kind of stubborn to entertain any idea unless he's the one to come up with it. How can you say he's right when he refuses to even consider another potentially correct answer?"

"Heh, I can just imagine the look on his face if he ever heard you say that about him," Teddy said with an amused huff of his breath when he heard what Billy said. "You pegged him down pretty well for only having just seen him a few seconds ago. He's pretty stubborn to the point of believing that his way of doing things is the only right way. The only people he would ever remotely bend down to are his parents and the baseball coach. I guess because of that it's really hard to say whether or not he's right about anything."

For the next couple of minutes, the two teens quietly sat next to each other as their ears continued to be assaulted by the many screams from outside. They had since run out of things to say on the subject of Greg and the recent altercation. Instead, they were left to their thoughts as to what was going on at their school. Never in their wildest dreams did they believe that they would ever find themselves in a situation that could only be described as hell. Never did they think that they would see a zombie roaming around and eating at every unfortunate person it managed to get its hands on. It was just a mind-blowing experience that no doubt either of them would fully recover from anytime soon.

After about a couple minutes had passed, all the screaming and shrieks of pain that were emanating from the quad had subsided. All that could be heard now were the screams of people from the other portions of the school along with the occasional shuffling sound of shoes behind the door. As a result, the air around the teens now held a sort of creepy and foreboding silence that seemed to threaten them with death should they listen to it too long. It was probably enough to even crack the most emotionally hardened of people into a slightly skittish person if not a potential nervous wreck.

"Teddy," Billy finally spoke up in a clearer voice this time, the silence now getting the better of him. "Why don't we go deeper into the cafeteria where everybody else is at? I don't really feel comfortable sitting so close to the door with zombies on the other side. That and this silence is starting to creep me out."

"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day," Teddy responded in a slightly happy tone as he tried to lighten the overall dreadful mood. It seemed to somewhat work as the raven haired teen flashed him a small smile before getting to his feet. The blond quickly followed suit before adding, "And how about we go looking for that way out through the kitchen while we're at it? You never know when we might need to leave this place quickly."

Upon hearing this request, the raven haired teen motioned for the other to take the lead. Despite having been in this high school for a little over a year, Billy had yet to set foot into the cafeteria except for assemblies and whatnot. That was because he preferred to avoid crowds of people so as to avoid any kind of incident between him and bullies. As such, he was not well versed with the interior layout of the building like Teddy was since this was his karate club's official place of meeting.

Yes, the actual room where students eat was a pretty basic area to remember, but it was the connecting rooms and hallways that the raven haired teen was not familiar with. Some of the hallways led to more classrooms while some of the rooms led to offices of school officials and club rooms like that of Teddy's club. Overall, Billy never once had a reason to go through the cafeteria to get to a class nor did he ever have to visit a school official, so the overall layout of the place was a mystery to him.

Thankfully for him, Teddy was not planning on giving him the grand tour anytime soon. All he did was lead them towards the medium-sized crowd in the middle of the cafeteria where students were talking amongst themselves in a panicked fashion. All were confused as to what was going on; some settled at just crying their eyes out from no doubt the shock at having seen their friends and fellow classmates killed before their eyes. Overall, the core mood hanging in the air was that of both sadness and uneasiness.

However, Teddy guided Billy around the perimeter of the crowd rather than trying to navigate through it. In fact, he had made straight for a door that was to the direct left of the crowd and generally unobstructed by the students. While not labeled in any form, the raven haired teen had a feeling that this was the door that would lead them to the kitchen and ultimately their only way out should they ever use it.

"Hey, Billy-boy!" Billy suddenly heard someone exclaim from the crowd. Both teens stopped in their tracks and turned to see a rather husky teen male walking towards them with a sneer on his face. "I see that the shrimp of the school managed to survive this zombie madness. I guess all that running and ducking has done you good."

"Wh-What do you want?" Billy asked out of reflex as he recognized this person as one of the bullies that tormented him. The strange thing about it was that despite the many times he had been pushed, punched, and demoralized by this bully, he never once had the opportunity to figure out his name. "Is this really the time for this?"

"Now's the perfect time to be dishing out some hell for you," the bully replied in a sinister tone, failing to notice that Teddy had since stepped a few inches ahead of Billy and posing as a defensive wall. "I literally just lost one of my best mates out there, and I think I'll take out my frustrations on you."

"How about you try doing something else for a change?" Teddy quickly spoke up as he gave off a threatening glare that the bully seemed to merely brush off. "Just because one of your friends was unfortunate enough to be taken down in the chaos out there doesn't give you the right to start threatening others. Bullying others should be the last thing on your mind right now, especially when you have all this craziness happening around you!"

"Apparently, you don't know how my mind works, Mr. Hot-Shot Baseball Star. I have a bit of…trouble venting out my feelings, and I find that crying and all those other girly stuff to be weak. So why not revel in the suffering of others when I know that I'm the one to give them that?" the bully added as he stepped threateningly close to Teddy's face. "And don't think I won't hesitate to give you the same treatment. Don't think you're so tough just because you're in the karate club and that you can protect that son of a bitch behind you…"

In a flash, Teddy delivered a right straight punch to the guy's nose followed up with a left hook and finished up forward-step left elbow to the gut. Caught completely off guard, all the bully could do was take the hits and fall flat on his back when delivered the devastating blow to his stomach. Most of the students who happened to have been nearby saw this and quickly moved away from the one-sided fight; some even headed closer to the scene most likely as a way to distract their preoccupied minds.

"Don't you EVER talk about Billy like that again!" Teddy exclaimed as he quickly stood up straight from his fighting stance. The other person tried to get to his feet but was reeling from the pain he had just been dealt with as blood started to pour out of his injured if not broken nose. "You're lucky I haven't punched you out before this since you were too chicken to even let him know your name. He's never done anything to you, so don't let me catch you even laying a finger on him again! You got that?_!_" he shouted the last part while shaking his fist threateningly for good measure.

"T-Teddy…!" Billy all but whispered out in shock as he watched the scene unfolding from behind the blond. He had never seen his best friend so heated up or even acting so protective before. While he was appreciative that he was being defended from another bout of bullying, he felt somewhat uneasy that he actually resorted to punching before it was even warranted. Then again, the tension in the air could have proved too much for him and forced him to act on instinct.

"Grr, as if you could protect him forever!" the bully growled out vehemently, clearly having been embarrassed in front of everybody and not liking it. However, he could only wallow in his embarrassment while on the floor since he was still in too much pain. "You just wait until I get the rest of my group together, Altman. We'll jump you so hard when you least expect it; you'll still be thinking that it's the 21st century when you wake up!"

"I doubt your 'entourage' can pull off something like that," the blond scoffed as the other finally managed to get to his feet albeit unsteadily and not bothering to even try to stop his nose from bleeding. "There's a difference between your wild punches and my ingrained martial arts strikes; I can better expect the unexpected. And that accounts for if and when you choose to surprise-attack me!"

"Ha, talk big all you want, you wanna-be baseball jock! You ain't nothing but a bunch of hot air thinking he's all that. We'll see soon enough who's going to get their mind blown out once this whole zombie business blows over!"

Before either of them could add more fuel to their already heated argument, a sudden shrill scream from somewhere in the cafeteria reached their ears! On instinct, everybody in the room turned their heads towards the area where the stage was at and saw a girl desperately trying to fight a guy who was on top of another girl.

"Someone, help me!" the girl shouted as she continued to try and free the struggling girl. "James just suddenly started acting like a zombie and is eating Jennie! Someone please help me get him off of her!"

Before she could further her pleas for help, the person she called James brought a hand to the girl's wrist and tugged her down. Not expecting this, she immediately fell right beside him with a shriek which then turned into cries of agony that no doubt everybody there was familiar with. It was the same shriek they heard from people being bitten when they were running _away_ from it all! Now it looked like their efforts were in vain.

"Oh my god!_!_!" one of the guys shouted as everybody started to run around in a panic at the revelation of being in the same room with a zombie. "Zombies are in here! Zombies are outside! We're trapped! We're doomed!"

"God damn it…!" the bully growled out as he clutched his aching stomach and stared hard at the scene unfolding before him. A bruise was now starting to show itself along his left cheek and his nose from the two punches earlier. He then turned his attention to Teddy before saying, "Don't think for a moment this is over, Altman. Once we survive this mess, me and my gang are going to let you have it!"

"You're honestly going to say that with all this going on?_!_" Teddy exclaimed in shock as the bully quickly retreated back into the crowd for a reason known only to him. He then said with a sigh, "I guess some people would do anything to keep some sense of normalcy in their lives when faced with chaos. Anyway," he quickly changed the subject as he turned around to face Billy, "I think we better make our way out of here. It's not safe in here anymore now that we have a zombie with us."

All Billy could supply as an answer was a nod of his head. He was still shocked at the display of protectiveness that the blond had just shown. He knew that Teddy always got angry whenever he had shown signs of being bullied. Not once had he ever seen him actually go so far as to punch out someone just to keep them away. Despite the hectic situation unfolding all around him, he was happy to see that his best friend would put him first before anything else even if it meant trouble later on down the line.

"Come on; snap out of it, Billy!" the blond responded as he lightly shook the raven haired teen's shoulders. This seemed to work as he now shook his head of any dazedness that was left. "We have to go now before things get even more hectic in here."

"B-But what about everybody else?" Billy asked as he finally took a good look around him and saw many students now entering the connecting corridors and rooms in an attempt to escape the cafeteria. He even saw the three on the stage who caused the commotion now zombies and trying to eat whoever was in their reach. It was then that the full gravity of the current situation dawned on him. "We can't just leave them like this! They could end up getting trapped or killed if they don't get out with us. Shouldn't we tell them that there's a way out through the kitchen?"

"I highly doubt anybody's going to listen to us now that they're like this. Their brains are now running on panic mode with the sole objective to get as far away from here as possible no matter where they go. I barely got you to snap out of it after rescuing you from the zombie attack back in the quad! Now come on; we've got to stop wasting time!"

Without saying another word, Teddy once again grabbed Billy by the wrist and led him to the door that led to the kitchen. With his free hand, he quickly jerked the door open and pushed the other in first before entering himself. They then proceeded to look for the loading area that would serve as their way out from this zombie-infested school. Hopefully, they would not run into any zombies in the kitchen area; but what with how their luck has been since this all started, they would not put it past them to not be a possibility. All they could do now was stay on their toes and try not to get caught off-guard.

* * *

Yep, they're not even safe in the cafeteria. So much for trying to wait the whole thing out. I wonder what made good old James turn into a zombie? Well, I'm sure you all know if you're familiar with any kind of zombie movie.

Anyway, I had decided to put a bit of a bullying scene in this story for a couple of reasons. The first one is so I could show you how bad the bullying situation was for Billy even if it was only from one bully in this scene. The second reason was because since the action was already high-strung from the previous chapter, I felt that to just let it suddenly go back down to somewhat relax would kind of make it into a bumpy story in terms of the flow. Hope it ended up working the way I intended it to work.

But yeah, I'm going to shut up now since it's already 1:40. Like I said at the top, I'll be done by a quarter until 2 here. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful and greatly appreciated. So now I'll leave you with a couple of outtakes. I expect most if not all of them to be serious this time. Of course, I could be badly wrong on that.

And just to say, I kind of see the outtakes as what not to do or if things end up being botched up. It's kind of like the thing with the Walking Dead where your decisions dictate the flow of the game and ultimately whether you live or die. Although I will admit that they are sometimes just complete jokes on an otherwise serious situation. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Teddy: Don't you dare close that door! There are still people out there!

Greg: Do you have a death wish or something, pal?_!_

Female student: I found a mop! I'm going to jam the door with it.

Teddy: Oh, no you don't! (Grabs mop and throws it aside before heading towards door)

Greg: DON'T OPEN IT!_!_!_!_!

(Doors fly open and both students and zombies start flooding the cafeteria. The chaos at the doors proves too much and Teddy is taken by surprise by a zombie)

Billy: Teddy!_!_! (Can only look on in shock as he sees Teddy being eaten)

/

Bully: Hey, Billy-boy! (Cracks knuckles threateningly) Didn't think I'd see you here.

Billy: Wh-What do you want? (Looking fearful)

Bully: Oh, just want to make my day somewhat normal and punch your lights out.

(Teddy merely watches with little interest as Bully lunges at Billy)

Billy: Ahh!_!_! Stop! (Proceeds to get pummeled despite efforts to fight Bully off) Teddy, help!

Teddy: Sorry, you're on your own here. (Shrugs while walking away) I already saved you once out in the quad. Handle yourself this time!

Billy: TEDDY!_!_!_!_! (Continues to be pummeled)

/

Female student: Someone help! James is a zombie!

Students: AHHH!_!_! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!_!_!

Teddy: We better get out of here, Billy!

Billy: AAHHH!_!_! (Runs around in panic) WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!_!_!

Teddy: (Facepalms) Oh, you got to be kidding me...


	4. Dangerous Kitchen Hijinks

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story that I know I said was going to be slowed down somewhat on the last chapter. Well, this first week of college classes was very laid back and easy. Understandable since it was the first day and really just a chance to go over class policy and the professor's syllabi. And yes, syllabi is an actual word and the plural form of syllabus.

But yeah, that's the reason why this new chapter is being posted rather quickly. However, I do have to say that the fact that I'm still on a writing high for this particular story played a big role in this coming out pretty fast. Being that the weekend is coming up and that I don't have any assigned classes on Fridays, I'm sure that you'll see some speedy updates during these weekends.

Of course, there is always a big chance that these days would also see slow-downs on the updates. After all, I have to now allot my time correctly so that I do not fall behind in my classes. I don't want to fall behind in my work just because I was busy writing these fictional stories that, to my sad admission, can wait until I'm done with my school work. Oh well, what can you do when important matters call out to you?

Anyway, that's enough of my rant here. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. I know I pretty much say this with every chapter update that I post on this site. It's pretty much a force of habit more than anything. However, I do admit I want some reviews when posting a relatively new story like this. It's like the only way I can tell how well this story is being received by you readers so I know whether or not what I'm writing here is worth my spare time or not. I'm sure, though, that what I write here is not a waste of time to any of you or me.

So, until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Dangerous Kitchen Hijinks**

As Teddy was busy dragging Billy around the kitchen in an attempt to look for the loading area that would ultimately be their way out of this zombie-infested school, they barely took heed of a couple of students who happened to barge in. Apparently, they had just gone into the nearest door that was nearest them in hopes of getting away from the chaotic scene that was the single zombie panic inside the cafeteria. It would not be much of a surprise if things ended up even worse and they started to also get flooded in the kitchen.

Never in any of the students' wildest dreams did they think they would be taking part in such a frightening experience; they did not even figure that trouble would somehow follow them into their supposed avenue of safety. And to think that they were just going through their day as normal students and then suddenly be thrust into something that has come out of a survival-horror movie. If this was not what the average teenager would consider being the epitome of insanity, then many would say they have a lot of loose screws.

With all these chaotic thoughts running through both the heads of students and teachers alike, it was no wonder that the two students who all but burst into the kitchen failed to pay any attention to the two teens that were there first. It would also account for their reasoning as to not wanting to hang around too long and settling on trying to escape through the next door that they could find. Unfortunately for them, it happened to be locked from the other side and forced them to frantically search for another avenue of escape.

Being that Billy pretty much had nothing to do while being dragged around by Teddy in search for the loading area, he settled on watching these two students running around in an admittedly comedic fashion. Were they not in such troubling circumstances, he would have laughed upon seeing this ridiculous sight. He almost did give out a small chuckle, however, when he saw the students finally find an open door and jammed into it. Even from his somewhat poor vantage point, he noticed that it was just a utility closet cluttered full of kitchen and janitorial equipment that it barely held enough space for them to hide in.

"Yeesh, I didn't think people would be that panicked," Teddy said in an undertone as he caught a glimpse of the closet hiding space from the corner of his eye. "They better snap out of it and start thinking things through more clearly. They're going to end up getting themselves trapped if zombies overrun this kitchen!"

"Uh, Teddy?" Billy asked as he refocused his attention to his best friend. "Do you think you could let go of my arm? I doubt dragging me around the whole kitchen with you is going to help us find the loading area any faster. Why don't you let me help out by at least looking for something we can defend ourselves with?"

"Oh, s-sorry about that!" the blond apologized with an easily concealed stutter as he quickly released his grip on the teen's wrist. Oddly enough, his cheeks gained ever the lightest dustings of pink as if he were trying to hold back a blush that the raven haired teen barely managed to notice. "Yeah, why don't you go and see if you can find anything to fight back against the zombies? I doubt running is going to do us much good when we end up becoming exhausted at the worst of times."

"As if we'd even be able to fight back when we're tired," the other replied with a light scoff as he chose to ignore the supposed blush and began wandering around the kitchen while leaving the other to search for the way out. "I'm pretty sure that adrenaline would keep us going for a bit, but that can only last so long when we're exhausted."

"Hey, at least it's better than going down without putting up a fight. Now hurry up and find something we can use to defend ourselves with! Once I've found the way out, I'm getting us out of here whether you're ready or not."

Deciding not to say anything about Teddy's threats of ill-prepared escape, Billy went to explore the kitchen on his own in hopes of finding a passable weapon. Despite being a kitchen, he had a hard time looking for what he initially thought would be in abundance, a knife or some other kind of sharp instrument. Then again, he kind of half-expected that to be the case seeing as how their school was not on some kind of healthy lunch program where the kitchen staff would actually prepare some of the lunches. He did soon find a paring knife next to a box of fruit, but that was not going to do much good being that it was too small. Still, he took it with him in case by some miracle it would prove useful.

After spending about half-a-minute trying in search of a more suitable blade, the raven haired teen gave up and decided to look for an alternative weapon. Soon enough, he found a mop next to a bucket of soapy water and a janitor's brush that was really nothing more than a long wooden stick since the brush portion sat broken on a nearby table. Figuring it was the best he could do considering how tight on time they were, the teen quickly picked them both up with his free hand. As he made his way back towards his best friend's position, he purposefully walked past the locked utility closet so as to hear what was going on with the two students inside.

"Don't you worry, sweetheart," Billy heard a strangely familiar male voice say in a reassuring tone as a cluttering sound was heard. "Things are going to be okay so long as we wait it out in here. You can rely on me!"

"Don't you give me that 'sweetheart' crap, you insensitive creep!" a female voice angrily chirped in followed closely with a slap. "You just dragged me away with you while I was trying to leave the cafeteria!"

"Hey, cut me some slack here! I thought you were my girlfriend. I didn't know that she had already ran off when I grabbed you."

Billy failed to hear any more of the ensuing argument as he was now out of earshot and settled on giving out a small chuckle at the exchange. Instead, he continued at a faster pace towards Teddy who he saw was now standing in front of a door and carefully examining it.

"Hey Teddy; think these would serve well for fending off zombies?" the raven haired teen asked as he showed off what he had found. "They weren't exactly what I had in mind, but they should be better than nothing."

"…A mop and a big wooden stick," Teddy deadpanned as he looked at the items with a raised eyebrow. "That's the best you can find in here? Boy, this has got to be the safest kitchen I've ever heard of."

"No need to tell me twice about that. I've scanned wherever I could but couldn't find anything that could do any major damage to the zombies. I did find this paring knife, though," the raven haired teen added as he carefully showed the knife off. "However, I really don't think that this can be used unless we had a death wish."

For a moment, the blond seemed to be stuck in thought as he shifted his gaze from the knife to the door and back again. Wanting to know what he had found, Billy looked at the door and noticed that it was made of metal apart from the usual wooden doors of the school. This meant that whatever was beyond it must be important for the school to put special attention to this. He also took note of a latch on the door that was kept locked with a padlock which only helped to confirm his suspicions.

"Are you saying that's our safe way out of here?" Billy asked. "If so, then what a load of good it did us to come in here! We need a key to open the padlock. Unless you know something I don't, I doubt you have one on you."

"…There's another way to open this thing without having to use a key," the blond simply replied in answer that only confused the other as he furthered examined the latch. "If we can't unlock the padlock itself, then we'll do the next best thing. We'll just disassemble the latch it's locked in place. It looks like this door opens towards us, so we just need to take the screws off of the doorframe and we'll be out of here."

"And how are you planning to pull off something like that?" the raven haired teen asked as he figured the screws were not going anywhere without a fight. "The tools needed to unscrew that thing is probably in the supply closet. I doubt the two people hiding in there are going to open it up for us anytime soon."

"I figured as much on that. Therefore, the next best thing we can do is find something that can double up as a screwdriver. It'd have to be both durable and thin in order to withstand and perform the screwdriver action. Thankfully, I think you just found the very thing we're going to need."

"You talking about this paring knife? Do you really think you can get rid of the screws with this? I mean, it does fit what you're looking for. But what if you end up accidentally slicing your hand or something?"

Instead of providing an answer, Teddy simply carefully took the knife out of Billy's hands and immediately went to work on the screws. Before he could even twist his wrist for a turn, however, a door was heard being slammed open. Startled, they both turned their attention to the door they had first entered through and saw a female student on the floor with zombies slowly walking towards her.

"HELP!_!_!_!_!" she screamed as one of the zombies fell on top of her, mouth open and quickly digging itself into her shoulder. With a blood-curdling scream, she began hitting the monster to no avail as more continued to flood the kitchen area.

"…We're running out of time here!" Teddy murmured under his breath as he used this scare to spur him on into working faster. "Make sure they don't get over here, Billy! Use the mop or that big stick if you have to."

Whether or not Billy heard what was said remained to be seen. For now, he was both shocked and scared at what was happening in front of him; the screams reaching his ears until they died down and were replaced with the sounds of ripping flesh. No doubt this was going to leave a mark on his mind he will not soon forget.

The only thing that snapped him out of his stupor was the sight of some straggling zombies taking notice of both him and Teddy and now hobbling towards them. With his nerves back on high adrenaline mode, he threw the mop to the ground and pointed the big stick out at the zombies in a threatening manner.

"Think you could hurry it up there, Teddy?" he asked in a voice that was a higher pitch than he had intended. "These things are coming!"

"I'm unscrewing them as fast as I can here!" Teddy exclaimed as he was halfway through with the first screw. "The people who installed this really screwed these things on tightly. Just fight them off if the get here!"

With a small whimper that reflected Billy's quickly growing panic, he swallowed as much of his worries as possible and tightened his grip on his weapon. All the while, quite a few zombies were now amassing at the girl's corpse with a choice few choosing to wander towards the two. He took small comfort in the thought that he could blame Teddy if they ended up dying since he was the one with martial arts and weapons training and chose instead to fiddle around with unscrewing the padlock.

"Got the first one!" Teddy exclaimed happily as the sound of a screw falling to the floor echoed in the kitchen on top of the other more unpleasant sounds. "Just need one more before we're out. You doing okay, Billy?"

"As great as I can be considering," the raven haired teen said with a loud grunt as he swung at an oncoming zombie and successfully knocked it to the floor with a hit to the ribs. However, he himself almost fell to the floor upon having his momentum be stopped so suddenly and put him off balance. Thankfully, the next zombie was still a good distance away considering the pace it was limping towards them. "Just hurry up with that damned lock! I don't think I can last long with my bad strikes!"

"Have confidence in yourself and you'll be fine," the blond assured him as he took note of the fallen zombie that was writhing on the floor and having a hard time getting to its feet. "Just remember to prepare for the kickback when your strikes hit them. It'll help with keeping your balance after the fact."

"Thanks for the suggestion!" Billy thanked as he prepared himself for another oncoming zombie. "I'll keep that in mind!"

With the second zombie now quickly closing in, he tested out Teddy's suggestion and immediately noticed a huge change. Instead of stumbling upon impact, he now had a better grip on his stance and hardly even lost his balance. With this fueling his confidence, he prepared himself for the third zombie that was quickly closing the distance between them. Unfortunately, his confidence was short-lived as it seemed to quickly give birth to over-confidence and thus sloppiness.

When Billy went for a third swing, he badly misjudged the distance between him and the zombie. As a result, he completely missed and did a complete 360 before falling to the floor and the stick now out of his hands. Thankfully, he managed to clip the zombie when he did the full circle, but it did not prove to do much in stopping its overall momentum.

"Billy!_!_!" Teddy exclaimed in both worry and exasperation as he quickly abandoned the latch and threw his knife at the zombie. The blade embedded itself deep within its forehead before it fell backwards with a thud and thus effectively stalling the zombies that were close behind it. He then asked as he went to pick Billy up, "How did you manage to pull off something like that? But seriously, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine!" Billy stuttered out as he was quickly pulled to his feet. "But what about the latch? You just used the knife to take out the zombie. How are you going to unscrew it now?"

"It's out enough that it can be unscrewed by hand," the blond quickly explained as he picked up the nearby mop since the stick was now in zombie territory. He then said in a commanding tone as he assumed a fighting stance, "Go and finish unscrewing the latch. I'll go ahead and keep these guys away!"

Without complaint, the raven haired teen quickly approached the latch and began unscrewing the screw that had been left unfinished. He only hoped that Teddy was right in that he could get it out by hand now. In the meantime, the blond had busied himself with taking down zombies while wielding the mop in an expert fashion.

"I never thought I'd have to use my karate and weapons skills for something like this!" he murmured under his breath as zombies started falling onto their sides and backs. Soon enough, the kitchen became too crowded with zombies that it was getting very hard for his attacks to do much damage. "Are you done there yet, Billy? I don't think I can hold out much longer here with so little space!"

"…Got it!" Billy exclaimed as the second screw fell to the floor with an audible ping before rolling away to who knew where. He then all but shouted as he gripped the door handle, "Now we can get out of here and… AAHHHH!_!_!_!_!"

The moment he pulled the door open, a snarling zombie came tumbling out from the other side and fell on top of him. Falling to the floor, Billy brought his hands up in an attempt to keep the monster from biting him as he fell hard on his back to the floor."

"Billy!" Teddy shouted as he turned around and saw his best friend once again wrestling with a zombie on the floor. Just as he was about to move in to help, he felt something weighted tugging at his shoulders. "What the…?_!_"

When he turned his head towards his right, he saw a snarling face just about ready to sink its teeth into his shoulders. He barely managed to bring his left hand to the monster's forehead before it could take a bite out of him.

With a cry for help, Billy dared to turn his head towards Teddy and saw that he himself was in trouble. Seeing that he was on his own here, he began to frantically search for something that could help him. It was a long shot, but he went with Teddy's saying in that it was better to die trying than to do nothing at all.

His eyes soon caught sight of a pair of scissors resting underneath a nearby table towards his left. With desperation fueling his every movement, Billy quickly yet carefully brought his right hand on the zombie's throat so as to prevent it from coming down on him. His left hand then stretched out in an attempt to get a hold of the scissors. This proved to be quite hard as he was fighting against both the laws of gravity with the deadly load above him and the distance between him and his only hope for salvation.

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, the teen finally managed to get his hands on the weapon. With it now clutched tightly in his hands, he swung it hard into the zombie's head in an attempt to get it to stop coming at him. With the first strike merely slowing it down, he pulled the now bloody blade out before digging into its skull once more. This time, it stopped struggling completely before he pushed it aside with the scissors digging deeper into its head when he struck the floor.

"I-I'm coming, Teddy!" Billy exclaimed as he scrambled onto his feet. He did not know what he could do to help, but he would be damned if he just stood there like an idiot while his best friend was in need of help!

However, he barely even took a step towards his distressed best friend before a blur appeared behind him and took out the zombie that had him temporarily paralyzed. It was so fast; he immediately froze to the spot as the blond was now stumbling towards him.

"The hell…?_!_" Teddy exclaimed in surprise as he stumbled into Billy's arms before regaining his footing and turning around. "What was that?"

"Me, that's who!" a familiar voice shouted before the sound of a punch connecting with bone was heard. "And save your thanks for when we're out of here!"

"Greg!" the blond shouted in both surprise and fright as he quickly picked up his fallen mop and jabbed the handle into the zombie that was hovering dangerously close over his rescuer. "Come on; we're getting out of here!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Greg quickly agreed as he made two large strides along the floor in gorilla fashion away from the growing horde before hopping to his feet and continuing the same momentum out the now open door to the loading area. Both Billy and Teddy quickly followed suit with the blond closing the door behind him so as to prevent the zombies from moving any further.

"God damn it…!" the blond swore with a huge sigh of relief as he quickly scanned the area for any more zombies before leaning against a nearby wall. "Things can't possibly get any closer than that!"

As he kept his eyes open for any other unpleasant surprises, he took note of the two that were in the room with him. Billy had taken a seat on a nearby stack of empty crates looking positively shaken over his second near-death experience that day resulting with a zombie on top of him. It was clear that he was probably going to suffer a nervous breakdown soon if he was forced into another wrestling match with a zombie that day. That was when he decided to take a seat next to the raven haired teen and place a comforting arm over his shoulders. Thankfully, this seemed to do the trick as his breathing stopped giving off a shuddering effect and was now quick and heavy.

Greg, on the other hand, simply had a stoic look on his face with only his heavy breathing any indication of the apprehension he was no doubt feeling at the entire situation. He was leaning next to the door they had just come through and now had zombies pounding away on the other side. Either he had no fear of the monsters potentially breaking into the loading area and being caught by them first or was just too tired to care. Luckily for them all, the door only opened in one direction, a direction that they could not open considering how they were just desperately pounding away.

For now, the three decided to relish in their well-deserved reprieve from what proved to be a very real and very deadly experience. None of them knew how long they were going to be able to rest from this ever growing hell, but they were going take advantage of it for as long as they could.

* * *

Nowhere can ever be safe when in the middle of a zombie attack! To be perfectly honest, the whole 'zombie invading the kitchen' idea just came as a sudden and random idea right when Teddy was going to unscrew the latch. Now that I look back on it, the chapter would have been pretty boring if I didn't put that detail into the story.

But yeah, everything after the part where the zombies first came into the kitchen was not planned in any way. I had only planned for them to get out of the kitchen without any incidents. This just goes to show how ideas can just suddenly pop out of nowhere and drastically change how the overall chapter or story ends up being.

And yes, I've decided to bring back Greg from the last chapter. Unless he's had some mention in the Young Avengers comics that I have yet to read yet, he is meant to be my original character. He was originally supposed to be gone story-wise after his cameo last chapter, but I figured I could give him some more air time even if only for potentially a little bit.

And poor Billy. I just noticed that this is the second time I've got him being crushed by a zombie. At least I got him this time handling it himself instead of relying on Teddy's help. For those of you who played Resident Evil 4, I honestly have no intention of having him turn into stupid Ashley who could not even handle herself from zombies.

And now I'll leave you with the outtakes section of this story. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read on this site. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Billy: Uh, could you let go of my arm, Teddy?

Teddy: Oh, sorry about that! (Starts to blush a bit)

Billy: (Slightly amused) Are you blushing?

Teddy: No, I'm not!

Billy: Is there something you're not telling me?

Teddy: _Oh, if only you knew. _(Distracts himself by working on latch)

/

Billy: Yeah, I got another zombie! I'm on a role!

Teddy: Just make sure you don't miss.

(Billy completely misses third zombie and falls on floor)

Billy: Teddy, help!

Teddy: Sorry Billy; you're on your own. (Unlocks door and leaves)

Billy: Teddy!_!_! (Tries to get to his feet but gets mosh pitted by zombies)

/

Billy: Damn it! (Struggling with zombie on floor)

Teddy: Sorry; you're on your own, Billy! (Struggling with own zombie)

(Billy sees scissors and struggles to get them but fails and gets bitten in neck)

Teddy: BILLY!_!_!_!_!

(Teddy continues to struggle but soon gets double-teamed and killed)

/

Greg: Oh yeah; you owe me, Teddy!

Billy: Greg...

Greg: I didn't think that a guy like you would have this kind of trouble.

Teddy: Greg...!

Greg: I mean, you're like the most attentive guy on the baseball field and... AAHHH!_!_! (Gets bitten in shoulder)

Billy: ...Can't say we didn't try to warn him.

Teddy: Eh, I didn't want to end up owing him for saving me, so I guess it works out in the end.

(Calmly leaves kitchen while Greg is getting eaten)


	5. One True Moment of Reprieve

Hello everybody! Allow me to introduce to you all the fifth chapter in this new story. Yes, I'm really on a roll here. Five chapters within a week's time. This is literally the fastest I've ever worked on a story before. Yay for me!

But alas, such bouts of quick updates are soon to be a thing of the past. In other words, my second week of college will be starting in two days. And with that comes a truckload of college work that I must start attending to with includes but nor restricted to dozens of pages to read as well as pages of reports and essays that need to be written. Oh, the joys of being a college student and trying to have a personal life at the same time. They just never seen to balance out no matter how hard you try to make it work.

But yeah, that's basically my warning to you all that my progress on this story shall be slowing down soon enough. At least you can't say I don't have a legitimate excuse to temporarily abandon this story occasionally since college is very important.

Now with all that out of the way, let me go ahead and let you read this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. As I always say, they are very helpful in keeping me writing and, if by chance you have constructive criticism, keep he on my toes as to what I'm doing. I always like to hear suggestions, although there's no guarantee I'll go with the exact idea that you give me. Maybe some twists on your ideas, but I will credit you for giving me the initial inspiration.

Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

And thanks **DimancheOtaku** for your reviews, even though you're currently the only one reviewing as of now. From the way you made your last review, it sounds like Greg is a canonical character. Well, time to give him my own little flair to help him fit in with what I originally had in mind for him as well as bring up a bit about his bullying ways.

* * *

**Chapter 5: A True Moment of Reprieve**

After having suffered and survived a very close call with zombies storming the kitchen, the three teens were busy collecting themselves and taking the time they more than deserved to rest. If anything, the last thing they wanted right now was to be put smack dab in the middle of another zombie attack. After having first run away from the initial attack and then being forced to defend themselves against a horde, the chances of them getting out of a third incident alive and unscathed was pretty bad.

In the meantime, Teddy took it upon himself to keep an eye over the loading area. He distinctly remembered the reason they ended up meeting up with Greg was because Billy was attacked when he opened to door to this room. The last thing they needed right now were more zombies than just the one that spontaneously fell on top of Billy the moment he had opened the door. If that was already in here, then there was nothing stopping him from thinking that more might be lying in wait.

Thankfully, the area seemed clear of any hostiles after he carefully scanned the place and listened for anything besides their breathing. The only thing that was worth his attention was a large loading truck that sat in the middle of the room with the cargo doors wide open and showcasing boxes upon boxes of food supplies. This led him to believe that the person that had attacked his best friend was probably the driver. Now that he thought about it, the zombie was wearing a shirt with a certain company logo on it, so that would explain why a room that was theoretically closed off housed a zombie.

At least this room seemed a lot safer and more reliable with only the constant pounding at the door they just came through reminding them of the harrowing nightmare they just barely survived. Of course, it also served as the driving force to the constant fear they were all feeling being surrounded by both death and walking dead. If anything, they could have considered themselves unintentional extras in a realistic style horror movie if they did not know the seriousness of all this.

"God damn it!" Greg growled out in frustration as he tore himself from his position next to the door and began pacing around the loading area. He was clearly frustrated at being caught in the middle of the current situation and the dangers it had thrust them all into. "I honestly thought that the cafeteria was going to be the safest place to hide out. I mean, me and my girl made sure they couldn't get in from the main doors! I checked every other way in and made sure they were sealed tightly. How else could they have gotten in?"

"They didn't come in from outside," Billy replied in a small voice that barely carried any weight in the big room. He was clearly still pretty shaken from the experiences of the past hour as he was having trouble speaking up. "Don't you remember a girl saying that her friend started acting like a zombie and was attacking their friend before everything went crazy? That means he turned into one of those things while in the cafeteria!"

"This just proves that this school is no longer safe no matter where we try to hide," Teddy responded as he kept his arm over Billy's shoulders that had since stopped shaking from fear. "I don't know how that student managed to turn into one of them, but I wouldn't put it at a stretch to say that any one of us to might turn out like him. I can only hope it'll happen after we've died or something like that."

"If that's even the rules that all this crazy shit plays by," the other teen grumbled out as he began to circle around the truck as if trying to look for something. "If a simple person like that can just spontaneously turn into a zombie and start killing everybody, then what's to say that one of us could turn right at this very minute? By the time we figure out what's happened, one of us is going to kill the rest of us."

"Look, there's no point in worrying about something we have no idea about nor that we have any control over," the blond replied as he put a stop to Greg's ranting that he could tell was bothering Billy. He then suggested, "The best thing we can do now is get out of here and make our way home." Greg merely shot him a look that suggested he thought the plan to be anything but sane. "It'll most likely be a lot safer there than just waiting around here. I'm sure we'll be fine if we stuck together and escorted each other. Hopefully, those zombies aren't wandering outside of this school already."

"Do you really think it's that much safer out there?" the raven haired teen asked as he regained some of his composure and spoke in a clearer tone. "Those zombies had to have come from somewhere. I doubt they just decided to pop in here first and work their way out into the city. Yeah, being out in the open might be safer than indoors, but we're always going to be in trouble no matter where we go."

For a few moments, the other two teens were quiet as they thought about what the raven haired teen had just said. As much as the blond did not want to admit it, Billy was right in that this trouble was going to follow them everywhere. Whatever was happening in this school was no doubt taking place within at least the surrounding area. At this point, it was premature for any of them to suggest that going anywhere was going to grant them reprieve from this nightmare made real. For all they knew, every safe place that they could come up with was already infested with zombies just waiting to take a bite out of them. That was already proven earlier while they were hiding out in the cafeteria that quickly turned into a zombie buffet.

But still, they all seemed to agree on the fact that staying put was the worst thing they could do lest they wanted to be easy targets. The zombies from their most recent escape trying desperately and futilely to break through the metal kitchen door served as a reminder of the situation taken straight from Hell.

"…The little guy's right, Teddy," Greg finally agreed as he finished looking around the truck and hopped into the cargo container in order to better scope out what was in there. "While I admit that the best thing to do is to get out of here, is it really a smart move to be making our way home? What if the entire city is going through the same exact chaos this place has just been through? Just making the trek to any part of this city would be a death wish in itself much less trying to go home."

"Yet going anywhere else would be just as dangerous if not more so!" Teddy argued as he tried to persuade the other into his way of thinking. "The best place we know that's possibly safer than here is home. That and we pretty much know about the many routes to our houses should one happen to be too congested or overrun with these zombies. If there's one place we have to be headed towards, it would be our respective houses.

"And besides, we might have family waiting at home wondering if we're okay," he added as a footnote to further rationalize his idea. "Don't we owe it to them to at least show up so they can see we're alive and well?"

"Just call them on your cell and tell them that you're alright," the other simply responded as if that were the answer to the problem. "It's a more reliable way to reach them without having to risk life and limb."

"I've already tried that," the raven haired teen responded as the other two looked at him and saw a cell phone in his hands with his thumbs agilely moving across the number pads. Teddy did not know how he managed to miss this seeing as how he was seated right next to the teen. "I've got bars here, but the call's not going through. There are probably too many calls being made and holding up the system."

"…So much for that suggestion," the blond replied with a sarcastic bite as Greg merely rolled his eyes. "Now what do you think we should do, Greg? You still think that trying to get out of here is a stupid idea?"

"I never said getting out of here was stupid," Greg quickly corrected as he continued his search of the truck's cargo container. "I only said that making our way home wasn't the smartest of ideas to be going with. Then again, I guess we really don't have much of a choice in the matter if we want our families to know we're okay. The question now is how much more dangerous is it out there compared to what we saw here?"

"Well, it shouldn't be too bad considering that we have so much space to run and fight if the need ever arose. It'll definitely be better than me trying to take on an entire troop of them in such a small place like that kitchen earlier. That'll definitely not work and probably end up with one or all of us dying."

"Speaking of fights, where exactly did you come from, Greg?" Billy asked as the question suddenly crossed his mind. "I don't remember seeing or hearing you coming into the kitchen when Teddy and I were in there."

"Well, I just happened to run through the nearest door that I saw with my girl in tow. It just happened to be the kitchen where we ended up running into a utility closet and chose it as a hiding spot. There was just one problem with me and that plan," Greg added as he seemed to blush a bit in embarrassment. "The girl I dragged in with me wasn't my girlfriend. It was a completely different girl! I didn't know she was already gone when I grabbed the nearest hand I thought was hers and started running."

"That was you in the utility closet?" the raven haired teen asked as a small amused smile now approached his lips. "I knew I heard a couple of people talking when I passed by, but I never would've thought that it was you. Did you really get slapped by her while she called you a creep for randomly dragging her along?"

"Th-That's none of your business!" he quickly snapped as his cheeks turned redder at what had been said. "Needless to say, she kicked me out the moment she heard that zombies were flooding the kitchen. Apparently, she wanted me to be the sacrifice so that she could save her own ass later. That's when I saw you two in trouble and gave a tackle to the zombie that had a hold on Teddy."

"Well, I am glad you came when you did," Teddy admitted with a thankful nod of his head. "Amidst all that struggling, I was starting to lose my grip on that monster's head. Had you come any later, it probably would've sunk its teeth into my neck."

"Hey, I was getting ready to save you! You're making it sound like I was completely helpless to do anything then. I mean, I did just take care of the zombie that was crushing me; that should say I was more than capable to save you."

"And how were you planning on doing that without a weapon, Billy?" the blond asked as he gave an amused smirk to the other. "I might've been frightened, but I could still see you using those scissors on the zombie's head and then just leaving it there. Then again, I'm kind of glad you left it there. I don't think I'd trust you trying to save me when you have a deadly weapon in your hands."

"I-I'm not that bad with weapons! I know I need more practice, but it's not like I can't pick up on it quickly."

"As if it wasn't apparent that you needed practice since you fell flat on your butt after completely missing a slow-moving target. You'd have become monster bait if I weren't there to save you. I still don't know how you managed to pull that off."

"If you guys want to start an argument, do so once we've gotten out of here," Greg replied in a teasing tone despite the serious bite in his words. He had since finished his search of the truck and was now standing at the edge of the ledge. "And don't even think about doing some practice fights and all that other crap in here. The last thing we need is to attract more zombies to us by making loud noises. Of course, that's considering if they can actually hear a damned thing despite being dead and all."

"I think those strays would've found us by now what with all the pounding the kitchen zombies were doing at the door," Teddy replied as he alluded to the poundings on the metal kitchen door that had since grown silent without them noticing. "The fact that they haven't yet means that this place is definitely sealed off from everywhere else. Let's just hope they're not blocking the doors trying to get in and all that."

"Would you guys stop saying all those things about zombies flooding us or blocking our only way out?" Billy asked with a frown before hopping off the crates. "I don't know about you two, but it really isn't helping much with my morale. If anything, morale should be important if we don't want to start succumbing to panic attacks. Trust me; panic attacks really aren't the greatest moments to be in."

"Geez, when did you grow a spine and started giving out advice like that?" the other teen asked before hopping out of the cargo container. "I swear; you were so timid and easy to pick on when you were in elementary school?"

"What did you say?" the blond immediately asked as his eyes quickly lit up with an unexplainable emotion. Billy merely stared at Greg in confusion.

"I said he was easy to pick on when he was in elementary school. I admit that I've had my hand in name-calling and all that, but I kind of put a stop to that when I was forced to move out of town for a year before coming back as a middle schooler."

"You used to bully Billy? How come I've never heard about anything like this until now?"

"Hey, what's with you all of a sudden? You don't have to look at me like I'm crazy or something. And besides, it's not like I contributed to his middle and high school bullying incidents. I've grown out of those idiotic things since then. If I hadn't, I think you'd be the first to know, Teddy. After all, you and I have been good friends since the middle school baseball tryouts. That and I wouldn't dare think about messing with your best friend like that seeing as how you act like a protective older brother."

"…Still, it kind of makes me uneasy that you used to bully him in elementary school," the blond admitted as his eyes became calm once more. "I mean, it's kind of hard to believe seeing as how you've never done any kind of bullying for as long as I've known you."

"Everybody has their dark secrets they prefer to keep to themselves. I'm sure you have a couple of your own that you don't like people to know of. And let's just leave it at the fact that the year I was out of town got me to become a reformed bully.

"And speaking of bullying," Greg stated as he walked past Teddy and towards Billy who seemed a bit uneasy all of a sudden. He then said with an arm outstretched, "I'm sorry Billy for calling you names and ignoring you back when we were in elementary school. Can't exactly say I was proud about all that. So we cool with that or what?"

"Uh, I-I guess," the raven haired teen simply replied for lack of a better reply before accepting the handshake. "I don't really remember you being one of my bullies from back then, but it's probably because I haven't seen you since then until now when Teddy tried to talk you out of locking the cafeteria doors."

"I'm not surprised there seeing as how I've buffed up a bit since then. And no offense, but you haven't changed much between then and now, especially the kind of scruffy hair that looks like you didn't even bother trying to comb it this morning. I remembered who you were the moment I saw Teddy hanging out with you."

"Hey, I can't help it if my hair acts like that! Trust me when I say no amount of combing is ever going to make this look normal."

"Guess that's all I can do considering I've never experienced that before," the other teen replied with a light chuckle. "But yeah; no hard feelings now. And Teddy, believe me when I say that I'm a reformed bully from my elementary school days."

"I never said I didn't believe you, Greg," Teddy corrected as he nodded his head in understanding. "I only said it was hard to actually believe that was a part of your past. But now that we've got that out of the way, why don't we start trying to think about our next course of action? We really can't stay in here and wait for this to blow over. Chances are it's never going to get to that point."

"Well, we can always start looking around for anything we can use as a weapon," Greg quickly suggested as he climbed back into the cargo container. "I found a couple of crowbars in here that I'm sure they used to jimmy open these crates. They're probably a little over two feet long, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem using them without being too close in those monsters' faces. That's the last place I want to be at any time."

"Did you check inside the truck yet?" the blond asked as he left Billy's side and made his way to the front of the truck.

"Why don't you and Billy do that? I think I'll be a bit nosey back here and see what's in these crates. I'm sure it's just food, but you never know these days."

"What, you think this person was trying to smuggle drugs into the school or something?" Billy asked sarcastically as he followed closely behind his best friend. "That'd be the scandal of the year if it were true."

Instead of responding back, the sound of wood being pried apart echoed throughout the relatively empty room along with the clattering sound of something dropping.

"Billy," Teddy addressed in a low whisper once they both reached the front of the truck. "You okay being around Greg and all? I mean, he was one of the guys who bullied you over five years ago."

"Is that really still bothering you?" the raven haired teen asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion. "In the scope of things, I think you should be worried about living than me. But if you really want to know, it doesn't bother me. Sure, he looks like one of the guys who bully me these days, but I hardly remember him even calling me names five years ago. And besides, he actually came forward and apologized to me. Not once has anybody did that before. I may not be comfortable around him yet, but I doubt a bully would just up and spontaneously apologize to one of their victims like that."

"…I guess you have a point," the blond replied as he opened the door and quickly checked for any zombies that might have been inside. "I guess I'm just finding it hard to swallow that Greg actually bullied you since I've known him for four years now. Sorry for bringing it up again."

"How about you try not being so overprotective with me over every little thing you hear? Do that and we'll call it even."

"I can't guarantee success at that, but I'll sure as hell try. Just make sure you don't get yourself in a situation that'll make me go all protective again."

With an amused roll of his eyes, Billy quickly climbed into the truck and began rummaging through the various things that were inside. Mostly, it was just empty snack bags and soda cans among other things. There were even a couple of porno magazines that he found stuffed under the passenger side seat.

"Think I found something you might like, Teddy!" he said in a painfully too innocent tone as he tossed one of the magazines outside into the other's hands. "I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with it when this is all over."

"What are you…?" the blond started to ask as he skimmed the cover and quickly turned beet red. He then said as he threw the magazine behind him, "Very funny, Billy. In case you haven't noticed, I'm gay. Even if I were interested in something so ridiculous as that, I'd be reading ones with naked guys on it."

"Aww, can't you take a joke?" Billy rhetorically asked as he held back a snicker before continuing on with his search. "I was just trying to… Whoa!"

"What is it?" Teddy asked as he quickly climbed into the truck upon hearing the surprise in Billy's voice. "What did you find?"

"T-Teddy! There's not a lot of room in here. You're kind of crushing me!"

"Never mind that! What did you find?"

"Uh, what are you two doing?" Greg's voice was heard asking them as the two teens turned their heads to see the teen staring at them with an amused smile and two crowbars in his hand. "Do you know how compromising you're looking right now, Teddy?"

Slightly confused at this, Teddy took a good look at himself and immediately started blushing again. He was currently leaning against Billy's back with his knee resting on the driver's seat and situated between his legs and dangerously close to his crotch. And to make matters worse, both his arms were on either side of the raven haired teen as if he were getting ready to kiss him!

Billy also noticed this, although he was a bit more concerned with his current position in all this. During the slight struggle that had ensued when Teddy just rushed in, one of Billy's legs somehow managed to get tangled with the one that was not so uncomfortably near his crotch. One of his hands was resting on Teddy's inner thigh which was also dangerously close to _his_ crotch. If Teddy's face was pretty red, then Billy's was as red as red could ever be.

Gr-Greg!_!_!" Teddy exclaimed as the two teens quickly untangled themselves from their compromising position. "You idiot! Why'd you have to bring it up like that?"

"I'm sorry, but that's what I saw!" Greg explained as he could not hold back the laugher he had no doubt been restraining this entire time. "I'd never thought I'd see the day when Teddy Altman would get caught in a scandalous position, especially with his best friend!"

"Sh-Shut up!" Billy shouted as the two teens finally exited the truck without further incident. "Just tell us what you found in those crates!"

"Now you're trying to change the subject!" the other teen stated as his laughter had subsided to mere chuckles before being cast a threatening look. "Alright, I'll tell you. No need to be giving me the evil eye. As I expected, there were only eating utensils and some premade lunches. Hardly anything of worth in there. And how about you guys? You find anything in the truck itself?"

"You won't believe what I've found under the seats," the raven haired teen said as all signs of anger left his voice. He then brought out his left hand and showed the others what he had found; an ebon handgun that reflected against the light of the room along with what looked to be a spare ammo clip resting on top of it.

"Whoa, you found that in there?_!_" Greg asked in surprise as he brought his face closer to the weapon as if to ascertain that it was the real deal. "Man, I didn't think the guy driving the truck had the balls to be bringing a gun to school."

"Jeez," Teddy sighed out as he seemed content to examine the weapon from where he was. "You sure you should be holding onto that thing, Teddy? That thing might go off if you accidentally drop it."

"I'll be careful with it. And besides, it also came with its own holster that goes around the waist. I think I left it inside."

Billy then went back into the truck to retrieve the holster. Once he was back out, the others could see that it was just a simple brown leather belt-like holster that had a small pouch on the opposite end for carrying spare ammo. The teen then decided to put it on himself and place the gun and ammo clip in their rightful positions.

"What do you guys think?" he asked as he showed off his new attire as if he were bragging about a new toy he just acquired.

"I think you're looking pretty cool there!" Greg quickly responded as he patted Billy on the shoulder. "You look like you could take on anything out there."

"Don't egg him on, Greg," the blond replied as he shook his head in dissatisfaction. "I think you look ridiculous, not to mention out-of-character amongst other things I could say about this. Apart from them being dangerous, do you even know the first thing about properly using one of these things?"

"I probably know more than you do. Who do you think keeps beating your butt up when it comes to those arcade shooting games? If I can do well on those first-person shooting games, I'm sure I can handle this without problems."

"They're not the same thing!" Teddy quickly objected as his protective side was starting to show itself. "Those were just games we've played. This is the real deal you're holding onto! You might end up accidentally shooting yourself or somebody else if you aim badly. And apart from that, do you even know how to reload those things? You never had to do anything like that with the arcade games."

"I can learn as I go along," Billy countered as he pouted childishly. "And besides, I think it's only fair that I get to carry this around with me. You and Greg are both on the baseball team. You both know how to swing something around without falling to the ground unlike me. And I doubt either of you knows how to at least aim this gun as well as me. If you think about it, it all balances out. That and this might actually be pretty useful against a herd of zombies if we ever get tired and don't feel like going up in one's face."

"…The little guy's got a point there, Teddy," Greg conceded with a shrug of his shoulders. "You and I are going to be using these crowbars since we do have pretty good swinging arms. And if what he says is true, he has a better aim with those things than probably both of us combined. Top that off with the fact that a gun's a good way to kill zombies without being so flipping close and it's an argument you're not going to win."

"Humph, I still go against him carrying it," the blond huffed out like a seven-year-old who did not get his way. "…Still, I really can't argue with those facts. Alright, Billy; you can hold on to the gun. If you're going to use it, though, make sure you're nowhere near aiming it at us. I don't want to be an accidental casualty of your 'deadeye' aim."

"As if that's ever going to happen," the raven haired teen replied happily as he clearly won this argument, even if it was assisted by Greg. "Now that we've got weapons, why don't we try looking for a way out of here?"

"There should be a door next to the truck entrance that will lead us out of this school," Teddy explained as he took a crowbar from Greg. "I saw one while heading towards the front of the truck earlier. We should have no problem opening this since it'd most likely be locked on this side."

"Hopefully, there won't be a surprise waiting to greet us out there," the other teen replied as he followed his fellow baseball teammate to said door with Billy following close behind them. "But we're more than ready to go against them if that's the case."

"Don't go getting cocky," Billy warned as they reached the door with Teddy holding onto the doorknob.

Whether or not the teens were fully prepared to face whatever might lie beyond that door, they were more than ready to leave this nightmare of a school once and for all! After all, anywhere was better than just hanging around here with a bunch of zombies lurking in the room next door, right?

* * *

Now that Billy and Teddy have finally gotten a well-deserved rest, they have obtained a new ally in their escape from this school. I have decided to allow Greg to stay with the group even though it was not my original intent. While not always necessary, I figured it'd be better that they travel in a group rather than just a duo as Teddy and Billy. That way, I'll be able to put more variety on conversation pieces should ever the need arise.

And yes, I've finally managed a chapter, excluding the first one, where everything is actually calm without any signs of insanity. Sounds like a good time to then go scavenging for weapons.

To be honest, I did not think about introducing the gun this early in the story. However, I figured that they would probably need it now and that a truck would be a good place to bring it into the story. It really was just a spur-of-the-moment idea that I hope works later on.

And I thought I'd try to break the serious tone a bit by adding a few funny bits to this chapter. I know horror and survival stories like this are usually quite serious and just about not being killed, but then how can I keep you guys all refreshed and happy if that's all it is? That's how the idea of these in-story funnies came to be. Hope you liked them as well a the entire chapter itself.

Now that I'm done ranting, let me leave you with the outtakes before retiring for bed. It's like two in the morning over here for me, so I'm tired now.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always greatly appreciated. Until the next update to this or one of my other stories on here everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Billy: When did you get in the kitchen, Greg?

Greg: While you and Teddy weren't paying attention. I was hiding in the utility closet?

Billy: That was you in there? (Grins mischievously) Sounded like you were trying to pick up a girl in there.

Greg: Th-That's not true! (Turns slightly pink)

Billy: (Mimics Greg) Oh sweetheart, everything will be fine with me around.

Greg: Oh, you're so dead! (Lunges at Billy)

Teddy: ...Looks like a start to a great friendship.

/

Billy: Oh Teddy; I found something you'd like.

Teddy: What is it? (Catches porno magazine) ...The hell is this?_!_

Billy: (Talks in teasing tone) Come on; you know what it is!

Teddy: If this is your attempt at making me say I love you, you're doing a bad job.

Billy: Oh, it was just a joke. (Looks momentarily confused) Wait a minute; what do you mean by that?

Teddy: (Suddenly flustered and blushing) Uh, nothing; just kidding around! Got to go!

Billy: ...Weird.

/

Greg: Guys, do you know how compromising you two look?

(Both teens look at each other)

Teddy: So? What's stopping you from saying we did this on purpose?

Greg: (Slightly horrified) ...You're not serious, are you?

Billy: (Playing along) Try dead serious. (Rubs hand seductively against Teddy's thigh)

Greg Okay, don't need to see this! (Quickly leaves scene)

Billy: (Laughing) Wow, we sure got him! (Stops laughing when Teddy returns seductive rub) Uh, Teddy?

Teddy: (Speaks seductively) Just returning the favor.

Billy: (Speechless) ...You're not playing around here, are you?

/

Teddy: Watch where you point that thing, Billy!

Billy: (Aiming gun) Relax, Teddy. It's not like I'm going to... (BANG)

?_?_?: AAAHHHHHH!_!_!_!_!

Greg: ...I think you just shot someone.

Billy: Oops! (Flusters and accidentally drops gun; goes off and hits Teddy in arm)

Teddy: Yeowch! I'm going to freaking rip your balls off for that, William!

(Billy runs around room with Teddy at his heels nursing his wounded arm)

Greg: (Just standing and watching) ...I wonder if Teddy really will neuter Billy if he catches him? Guess I'll just sit back and watch.


	6. Into the Streets of Town

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter of this new story for you all to read after having you all wait for a little over a week to see it. For those of you who bother to read author's notes, you'll understand why I slowed down. For those of you who don't, then here's another chance for you to understand why I'm slowing down now.

For those of you who share my educational pain, I'm right now back in my college classes and having to dedicate more time to my work. This quarter is especially so since I'm right now slacking off in my grades and need to bump them up. As such, my school work is of utmost importance this quarter in that I don't want my grades to suffer any more than they already have. And because of that, it means a slowdown in all of my updates. Sorry, but my priorities come first.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say on that accord. Let me move on by telling you a little bit about this story. First off, I'm using the names of actual towns and cities that are in New York. In honor of how the Young Avengers, I had them start out in New York where they live. However, I had them start out in a rural part of the state since I found having them somewhere like time square would be a big hell to write when it came to the whole zombie thing. I'll write them going into a big city one of these chapters, but right now just does not seem like the right time for that.

Secondly, this is the first time I'm actually writing a story without first knowing how the ending is going to be. Then again, this is a zombie story. It's pretty much an open end as to how the story's going to finish up. Actually, I do kind of have an idea as to how it'll end, but I'm not overly sure that I'll be able to pull it off. I guess we'll just have to wait and see when the time comes.

Well, that's it for my rants here. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto whatever other story that you want to read on this site. As I always say, I take them into consideration and also take note of whatever suggestions or criticism that you may have. Of course, I don't accept flame reviews that don't impart either encouragement or suggestions. Just throwing it out there as a formality.

Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody! And don't forget, expect a slowdown in my updates because of me having to put more commitment in school now. After all, college is important, especially in this day when jobs are hard to find and get if you happen to live in the United States like me.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Into the Streets of Town  
**

Before Teddy opened the door that served as his and the others' way out of this zombie-infested school, he looked at both Billy and Greg to see if they were ready for whatever might happen. Greg was standing on the other side of the doorway with his crowbar at the ready in case something came rushing in towards them; Billy was hanging back a bit and aiming his gun at the door in case something suddenly came bursting in. Both gave a stout nod that signified they were ready to take on whatever might come their way.

Once he saw each of them confirm that they were ready, the blond turned the knob and quickly swung the door open. Naturally, they had psyched themselves up for the potential worst case scenario in that they were going to be attacked by a group of zombies. After all, they've learned from the longest hour of their lives in this nightmare made real that they should start expecting the unexpected to occur whenever it can. Nobody could really blame them for acting like a bunch of paranoid idiots, especially when they've witnessed first-hand what the monsters could do.

Thankfully for them, they were greeted with wonderful calm instead of the calamity they were expecting. In fact, what they saw was just an empty school driveway with only trash bins and other miscellaneous things littering their way. Comforted by this sight, they all let out a heavy sigh they were unknowingly holding before walking outside into the cool brisk air that felt oddly comforting. However, they kept their psyched-up attitude in the foreground of their minds in case they needed to dip into its offered adrenaline rush.

"Finally, we can go somewhere without having to be greeted by those sons of bitches!" Greg excitedly cursed in an exasperated tone as he rested the crowbar over his shoulder in a nonchalant fashion. "I was afraid that we might have to run for our lives again. I sure as hell don't feel like doing that again."

"Just try to keep your guard up through this, Greg," Teddy warned as he kept his weapon at the ready for the unexpected. "You never know when and where these things might pop out from and literally bite us in the ass."

"Yes, mother," the other teen replied in an annoyed tone before actually readying his weapon again. "You just make sure Billy over there doesn't end up blowing my brains out with his so-called 'eagle eye' aim."

"Would you guys stop making fun of my aiming already?" Billy whined as he was the last out and closed the door with his free hand as a precautionary measure. "I'm really not all that bad with a gun, you know?"

"And as I said before, arcade games doesn't count as target practice," the blond simply countered. "I'm sure you've heard of something called a kickback that results when a bullet is shot. What if that ended up messing up your overall aim because of that and gets one of us shot? We can't afford to be injured like that right now if not ever."

"Didn't I already promise you that I wouldn't be aiming anywhere near you guys? You really have to relax a bit on this, Teddy."

"Guys, could you shut up for a second!" Greg quickly shushed the two as he motioned with his free hand towards the direction that would take them out to the streets. "I think I just heard something."

Quickly dipping into their paranoia high they had accumulated from inside the school, Teddy and Billy immediately quieted down and tried to listen in on what the other teen was hearing. At first, they heard absolutely nothing that would warrant attention. However, they soon heard the sound of running footsteps accompanied with the sounds of heavy breaths a couple of seconds later.

Almost immediately after they had successfully discerned what the sounds were, two men with guns in their hands started running down the driveway towards them. Judging by their appearance, they were members of the local police department who were hopefully engaged in a strategic retreat.

"What are you kids doing out here?" one of them asked rather loudly as the officers stopped a few feet away. "You shouldn't be loitering around. The entire city's gone to hell! Hurry up and take cover inside the school."

"Oh, no way in hell you're going to make us go back in there!" Greg exclaimed as he immediately brought his body in front of the door to prevent the cops from going in. "We just came from in there, officer. We're lucky to even be standing out here right now after what we've been through!"

"What are you talking about?" the second officer asked with confusion written all over his face. "This school was designated as one of the evacuation zones. This is practically one of the safest places there is in this town!"

"Why don't you try one of the most dangerous?" Teddy quickly corrected in a deadpan fashion. "The school is filled with nothing but zombies now along with students trying to escape with their lives intact. Like my friend here just said, the three of us barely managed to get out of there with our own skins attached. Trust us when we say you don't want to even think about going in there right now."

"…You're not serious, are you?" the first officer rhetorically asked as he looked behind them as if expecting something to suddenly show up. "When all this started, the mayor said that this was one of the places that were going to be considered a disaster shelter. He even put out an emergency broadcast telling anybody who happened to be in the nearby area to come here for shelter. How could it already be overrun with those monsters?_!_"

"Then where's the next closest place to take shelter?" the blond quickly asked once he heard about the mayor's announcement for designated safe zones. "If it's too far, then we're thinking about hiding out at our homes."

"Are your homes north of here?" the second officer asked as the teens nodded their heads in acknowledgement. "If that's the case, then don't even think about going home! Those monsters apparently started their rampage from the north before making their way down here. The police along with some members of the military have set up barricades to keep them from advancing, but I honestly don't know how long that's going to last. We haven't heard of any reports of them coming from the south, so that's your best bet if you're planning on making a run out of this town."

"…So much for trying to make our way home," Greg replied in a despondent tone. "And where do you suggest we go to? I doubt just heading south with no destination in mind would be very productive."

"Your best bet is to make your way to the New York-New Jersey border town called Suffern," the first officer suggested as he slowly made his way back the way he and his partner had come from. "The chief said that if things became too out of hand, we should tell any people we run into to instead head to Suffern. Apparently, they have some kind of plan there to better protect against chaotic scenes like this."

As the officer passed the corner, he immediately brought his gun up and startled the teens when he fired it. His partner immediately concentrated his gaze in the direction where the shot was fired. In the next moment, a zombie was seen falling forward with its arms outstretched as if it were about to grab a victim before being put down.

"Damn, they're here!" he exclaimed as he started firing more rounds with his partner now entering the fray. "You kids hurry and get out of here! My partner and I will try to keep these idiots occupied until you're gone."

"B-But what are you two planning on doing?" Billy asked as Teddy took a tight hold of his wrist and started following Greg out into the school parking lot. Now with a better view of the street, they saw that it was littered with zombies now converging on their current location. They could also see a few students and teachers who somehow managed to escape the chaos that was the inside of the school escaping with some of them screaming bloody murder.

"We're going to try and save the people still trapped in the school!" the second officer quickly replied as he shot a zombie that was close to Teddy in the head. "It's our duty to protect and save people in trouble like you three. You just worry about yourselves now. Make your way to Suffern and try to avoid contact with these things. If you do, make sure to hit them in the head. It seems to take them down without an effort!"

"Alright; thanks!" Teddy quickly thanked the officer for the suggestion. "And you guys be careful when you head through the kitchen. It's swarming in there!"

Now the teens had a solid destination in mind on where to go in order to ride out this chaotic mass cannibalistic murder, the New York-New Jersey border town of Suffern that was south from where they currently were. All the while, the officers were slowly backing towards the door the teens had just left through while successfully drawing the zombies' attention with their constant shooting. With one last look behind them, Billy saw the two officers enter the loading area just before being swamped by the zombies they had bravely drawn their attention so as to allow them to escape without incident.

However, just because the attention was not concentrated on them did not mean they escaped notice from the zombies' one-track minds. The few who had chosen to ignore all the gunfire were dawdling at the end of the growing zombie crowd or just plain aimlessly wandering around. As a result, these dawdlers were now taking interest in the escaping teens and tried their best to impede their safe retreat.

Not wanting to be a zombie's dinner anytime soon, Greg quickly took out two of them that were in front of their path, one with an upward slash to the groin that incited a strangely high pitched guttural growl from the zombie and a sideswipe on the other to the ribs that sounded out a sickening crack. Teddy also took out one who had dared to sneak up on them from the other side of a large pick-up truck by embedding the sharp portion of the crowbar into its stomach. However, Billy was the one to deliver the first blow to its head with the butt of his pistol as a sudden reaction since he was the intended target first. It had been way too close for him to have done much else beyond the rather weak strike that did no more daze the monster long enough for the blond to properly attack it.

"Do you really think that Suffern is going to be safer than here?" Billy asked as they continued on with their escape with the path clear. The blond teen was still dragging him by the wrist despite not being in immediate danger anymore. "What if it turns out that things are a lot worse there than they are here? I mean, we really don't know just how bad things are. We could be heading for another infested trap, for all we know."

"Well, anywhere is definitely better than staying here," Teddy simply answered as he finally found the decency to let go yet still continue with their escape from the school grounds. A couple drops of sweat fell into his eyes, but he ignored it and kept his attention ahead of him. "As long as we keep moving like this and avoid any unnecessary run-ins with these monsters, we should be fine."

"Try speaking for yourself, Teddy," Greg called back as he took out another zombie he had approached with a good clean swing to the head. It was clear to him now that the officers' advice was spot-on seeing as how the monster just fell down and stopped moving after having its skull brutally cracked. "Running like this is a good way to getting killed from exhaustion. And do you even know where exactly Suffern is besides being in the south?"

"If we can get to the freeway or even access to a map of sorts, then we should have an idea where to go," the blond simply replied as he kept his eyes open for anymore unwanted surprises, his crowbar at the ready for more action. "We shouldn't run into too much trouble with directions."

"And what about the travelling problem?" the other asked as they reached the street that would take them home and went down the opposite direction. As earlier stated by the officers that had covered their escape, the northern road was swamped with zombies trying to break through a police and army barricade. "Moving from one town to another on foot like this is a great way to get ourselves killed by zombie surprise attacks. If we run into an entire herd like the one that the military is fighting to keep back, chances are we're not going to outrun them before running out of breath ourselves."

"We can just hitch a ride with someone heading down there or just take an abandoned car that might still have the keys in it. I think we'd be lucky if we could get one of those to work in our favor. And if we do end up having to drive a car, we'd be very lucky if we can get to Suffern without crashing into something once."

"Apart from the whole thought about crashing cars, what if neither possibilities end up happening? Do you know how much trouble we'll be in if we're forced to travel by foot the entire way? We'd have to sleep out in the open and worry about whether or not we'll wake up in the morning. And let's not forget to mention the obvious food problem we'd run into having to travel so far for god knows how long. It's going to come up by tomorrow at the least if we continue just running to Suffern with nothing but these weapons and the clothes on our backs. We need to find somewhere to stock up for the journey."

"Look, let's just concentrate on what it is we can do at this exact moment," Teddy finally said in a serious tone as he stopped dead in his tracks at a street crossing. He was now really sweating and had to brush his matted bangs away from his eyes. "Just stop trying to think so far ahead. It'll end up hurting you more than it's supposed to help. If you're so concerned about what's going to happen to us tomorrow, you're going to forget about worrying what's going to happen today. Just take it one step at a time before you end up getting yourself killed with your hypothetical thinking."

"Teddy's right, Greg," Billy agreed between slight pants as his eyes wandered up the streets to look for any hostiles. It seemed as though they were safe for now from both the horde they had managed to lose and any other nearby zombies. "Thinking ahead never got anybody anywhere, especially when it comes to something as crucial as this. You can always try to anticipate what's going to happen next, but you're never going to be able to fully discover what's going to take place. You're just going to make yourself panic over nothing. Just concentrate on today and worry about tomorrow when it comes around."

"…God, how do you always manage to come up with the right things to say, Billy?" the other teen rhetorically asked as he turned to look at the two teens, his crowbar arm never once relaxing. "You must've been a psychiatrist or something in a past life. But can you really blame me for being a bit wound up right now? I mean, I just basically left my family at home trying to save my own skin here!"

"That's considering that they're even still at home," the raven haired teen brought up as he adjusted the holster resting somewhat loosely around his waist. His gun was still resting in his left hand ready to be used at a moment's notice. "The officers said that the northern section of town was already overrun by the zombies with the military helping with the containment. The only way they could've known that was if they came from that direction themselves. It would only stand to reason that most of the citizens have already made their way out of there and have at least headed towards this direction."

"But what if they ended up going into the school without knowing just what kind of hell they were walking into? Even the cops couldn't tell that we barely made it out of that infestation with our lives?"

"Didn't you once tell me that you had family down in Suffern?" Teddy suddenly asked as he placed a calming hand on Greg's shoulder. "You said that it was your cousins whom your family is very close to. I've been to your place quite a few times; it's kind of hard to miss how close you are with them. Wouldn't your parents then go to them instead of heading to the school for shelter in a case like this? I know my mom would've preferred to be around people she trusted were she still around."

"…God, I'm such an idiot!" Greg exclaimed as he did a face-palm at his moment of panicked stupidity. "Of course they would go down there. Unless there was some big massive wall of flames blocking their way or some sudden split in the Earth, they'd head down there in a heartbeat if there ever were a life threatening emergency like this. I can't believe I let myself forget about something like that."

"Oh no, I almost forgot!" Billy suddenly exclaimed as his voice was immediately filled with worry. This easily caught the attention of both teens, Teddy in particular since he knew that the teen would not so suddenly sound worried without merit. "My brother's right now down in Suffern with the track team representing our school! He said the competition was supposed to start today, so he should still be down there in Suffern High."

"Humph, then it looks like we all have an ulterior motive for going there," the blond replied. "If that's where we're all heading towards, then we better make sure we're prepared for a potentially long and tiring walk in case we can't get a ride. Hopefully, things are better there that it wouldn't matter if we have to walk the whole way."

"Wait a minute; you're coming with us?" the other teen asked with eyebrows raised in question. "No offense here, but you said your mom was your only family before she ended up going down because of a freak heart attack. Unless there's something you're not telling us, you don't really have anything to look for in Suffern."

"You're right; I don't have anybody to go to in Suffern. The only family I have left is the people taking care of me ever since my mother passed, but they're right now out of town on business. However, I think the fact that you two are planning on heading down there is more than enough reason for me to follow along. After all, who's going to make sure that you two don't try to do anything stupid while out on the road? Billy can easily become overconfident when you give him that chance, and you sometimes let your hot head get the better of you. It'd probably be best if a level-headed guy like me came along just to at least play the role of the most sensible person."

"Well, aren't we lucky then to have you coming along with us," the raven haired teen replied with an amused huff of his breath as a slight breeze suddenly started to blow. "Are you sure that's the only reason why you're going to follow us? No ulterior motives like to just get the heck out of here or anything like that?"

"…Yeah, I guess that'd be the main reason why I'll be coming along," Teddy replied with an innocent smile as if he had just been caught keeping a secret of sorts. "Then again, I'd say that's what we all have in mind now. You got to have a few loose screws not to consider at least getting out of this town.

"And speaking of which, what do you guys think we should do first?" he quickly asked as Greg's earlier rant flowed through his mind. "Greg was right in saying that we're going to have to prepare for whatever comes our way. If we're forced to walk to Suffern, then we're going to need to make sure we've got food and what other supplies we'll need. I doubt someone would just let us hitch a ride with them just like that, especially when they're desperately trying to get away and most likely not going to listen to reason."

"Well, we could head to my girlfriend's house," Greg suggested as he chose this time to officially check what street they were on. "She happens to live just a couple of blocks away from here. We should be able to stock up on some food and what other stuff we're going to need. I know her parents have a good stockpile of canned goods and medicinal supplies in case some kind of natural disaster like a freak blizzard happened. That should be good enough for the time being."

"Are you sure her parents wouldn't mind us just taking their stuff?" the blond asked with a skeptical eyebrow raised. "I mean, I doubt they'd even condone the thought of us heading to Suffern on our own."

"Fortunately for us, they just so happen to be attending a convention all the way in the Hamptons," the teen simply explained as he started to head down a certain street. "There's no way they're going to be rushing back here once they've heard how dangerous it has gotten, especially when New York traffic would no doubt slow them down considerably. And even if they manage to come back, they'll just think their daughter took some with her before running to safety. Either way, we're going to end up having a supply of food that'll tie us over for who knows how long in relation to our potential walking trip to Suffern."

"…Then here's to hoping that neither your girlfriend nor her parents would mind too much if and when they figure it out. Come on; hurry up and lead the way. The sooner we get there, the quicker we can head to the border town."

Before he could say anything else, the sharp sound of a bullet piercing through the air brought an abrupt halt to everything. Greg had stopped moving and was looking around frantically for the source; Teddy was also doing the same thing although soon staring at Billy to confirm his suspicions. As he had suspected, it was the teen who had shot the gun that was currently being aimed at his general direction, the smoke from the barrel still billowing slightly from the recent firing.

"Did you just shoot that thing at me, Billy?" Teddy asked once his brain registered what he was seeing. He was shocked that he was shot at despite having already warned the other about not aiming at him. "I thought I told you to be careful where you aim that damned thing! You could have killed me, you know?"

"Well, excuse me for just saving your life there!" Billy apologized sarcastically as he put his gun back into its holster. "If you'd just turn around, you'll notice a dead zombie that was about to take a chunk out of you with a bullet in its head courtesy of me."

"Wh-What?" the blond dumbly replied as he turned around and indeed saw a zombie lying flat on its back with a bullet through its head. What was surprising about this was how it had managed to get uncomfortably close without him noticing. At best, it was at least a couple feet away from where he was standing.

"Do you still want to make fun of my aim, Teddy?" the raven haired teen asked as he had a sort of triumphant smirk on his face. "I told you all those arcade shooting games were just as good as actual target practice."

Instead of saying anything, the blond simply turned his attention back at Billy and gave him a daydream-like glance that said everything. It showed that he was thankful for having his life saved while completely amazed at the accuracy the other had just showcased despite only firing a real gun for the first time in his life at that moment. Boy, was he just proven wrong that those arcade shooting games were not target practice.

"…Damn, Billy!" Greg finally said after getting over the shock of seeing the person he had once bullied in elementary school actually pulling off something both cool and heroic. "And I thought you were kidding when you said you had good aim. Remind me to never doubt you again whenever it comes to anything that has to do with guns."

"Still, I'd rather not use it unless I really have to," Billy quickly replied as he suddenly seemed a bit shy at the praise. "Apart from being able to pick away zombies from far away, it's kind of loud."

"Of course it's loud," Teddy stated in an annoyed tone once he finally found his voice. "Were you thinking it'd be quiet like a water gun or something?"

"That's not what I was referring to, Teddy," the raven haired teen corrected as he ignored the annoyance aimed at him. "Remember how the officers we ran into covered us by drawing the zombies' attention to them? Those monsters made a beeline for them while they were shooting their guns. They might already be dead, but I have a bad feeling that they can still hear pretty well."

"…You got a good point there," the blond agreed as he gave it some thought. "If that's the case, then we probably better get out of here. Because of what you just did, we might've gained ourselves some unwanted attention. Think you could hurry and take us to your girlfriend's house, Greg?"

"Make sure you guys keep up," Greg replied with a nod of his head as he went on a full-on run down the street. "I'm not going to wait up for you if one of you gets lost."

Billy and Teddy, both caught off-guard by the sudden movement, quickly followed suit. All of them kept their eyes open for whatever might decide to sneak up on them when they least expected it. Then again, they have already taken care of a few zombies themselves, so they should not have too much of a problem beating down a couple more if they ever had to do it again. Yep, things looked like they were now starting to get somewhat better.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. Despite having said all that in a big panic, Greg did bring up some good points on how exactly they were going to safely make their way to Suffern. To be perfectly honest, even I have my concerns on this. But I'm sure I'll be able to pull something off the top of my head for this to work. At least the gang are now going to Greg's girlfriend's house to stock up on food and supplies. That's as good a place to start out in a situation like this, right?

But yeah, now we know that Billy wasn't kidding when he said that he knew how to both use and aim a gun. I guess all that arcade shooting game play really helped him out with that. As you can see, the shy bully kid can easily have a tough side to him that nobody would ever know. That's also a little bit of me there in Billy minus the whole actually using a real gun thing. I love shooting games and I like to say I have a pretty good aim myself.

But that's beside the point here. Let me just go ahead and leave you with some outtakes. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always helpful and very appreciated. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Outtakes:**

(Officers appear at the school in the loading area driveway)

Officer 1: Survivors, come on! We got to help 'em.

Teddy: Where the hell are they coming from?_!_ (Backs up a bit)

Officer 2: My first day as a cop and already I'm in a shootout! (fires gun at zombies)

Billy: No, I don't wanna die! (Shoots zombie in the chest)

Greg: Die you cannibal creeps! (Swings crowbar at zombie)

Teddy: ... Wait a minute. (Raises eyebrow) Why are we quoting lines from Resident Evil 6 here?

Greg and Billy: (Everybody, including zombies, stops and thinks) ...Well, we figured that the occasion was right for it and to try and make mention of a certain game.

Teddy: Stop kidding around, you idiots! This isn't some kind of free advertisement stint!

/

Billy: Do you really think it'll be safer down in Suffern, Teddy?

Teddy: Well, the officer did mention it to us as we were running away. And he also said that he got the orders from the mayor himself, so it should be safe.

Greg: I somehow really doubt that.

Billy: And why do you say that?

Greg: Well, the chances are good that the place is "Suffern"-ing the same fate as our town here. Get it?

Billy and Teddy: ... ... ...(Both give deadpan gazes to Greg)

Greg: Come on; didn't you get it?

Teddy: ...Whatever. (Walks away with Billy following close behind)

Greg: Oh, don't be a couple of sticks in the mud, you guys! (Runs to catch up)

/

Greg: I'm just being curious here, but what are you guys' reason for heading to Suffern?

Billy: Like you, Greg, I'm going to look for family. That and it's theoretically safer there.

Teddy: I'm just going because you two are. (Shrugs his shoulders) Someone needs to make sure you both don't do anything stupid along the way.

Greg: So you're just coming to babysit us? (Raises skeptical eyebrow)

Teddy: Yeah, why? Not a good enough reason for you?

Greg: I was actually thinking you were coming under the pretense that you'd be able to score with Billy.

Billy: What?_!_ (Looks at Teddy with a shocked gaze)

Teddy: G-Greg's just kidding! (Quickly walks beside Greg and sharply jabs him in the ribs) Isn't that right?

Greg: The hell you do that for?_!_ You told me before how you've always dreamed of plowing through his a...

(Knocks Greg over the head with crowbar and makes him unconscious)

/

Greg: Let's head to my girlfriend's place. We can stock up on supplies for the trip to Suffern.

Teddy: Good idea. Go ahead and lead...

(BANG)

Teddy: OOOOWWWWWWWW!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_!_! (Shouts in pain while gripping right arm)

Billy: Oops! (Hides smoking gun sheepishly behind back) Sorry about that.

Teddy: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, BILLY?_!_

Billy: ...Sorry, but I was just trying to aim at the zombie hovering behind you.

Teddy: Couldn't you at least tell me to move out of the way first before shooting? I told you not to try out your eagle-eye aim on me!

Billy: Hey, at least killed the zombie at the same time. Give me some credit for that.

Teddy: Oh, I'll give you credit for that, alright. (Lunges at Billy and begins to punch him with uninjured arm)

Greg: (Watches the two fight) Oh, how the best of friends can become the worst of enemies. At least I'm getting a good show out of this. (Gives off a sadistic smile)


	7. Preparing for the Journey Ahead

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. Sorry for being pretty short with this author's note, but it's like 1:30 in the morning here. After this, I have to both start and finish an English homework that I have yet to do and is due in ten-and-a-half hours. Yeah, the joys of procrastinating; you get more time to do fun things at the expense of losing homework time.

Thankfully, this is homework for my Beginning Workshop in Fiction class in college. The prompts are pretty easy for me to work on, so I can like afford to go on procrastination attempts every now and then. That's how confident I am in my writing skills; although I probably should get down from that mindset before I actually start getting too cocky about everything.

Oh well, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful to me in both the support and whatever suggestions you might have for me. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 7: Preparing for the Journey Ahead  
**

As Greg led Teddy and Billy through the streets to his girlfriend's house, they kept their eyes peeled for any other instances of a sudden zombie appearance. Thankfully, they did not have to suffer through said problem and continued on their way without incident. However, what they lacked in zombies they quickly received in a quickly growing crowd of panicked people beginning to fill the streets. And with the appearance of the crowd came the ability to break the silence of the once empty streets.

"Come on; stick together everybody!" a man who sounded like he was the organizer of this crowd commanded. "Don't lag behind!"

"What in the world is going on here?" a woman exclaimed in fear and confusion. "How can there be zombies here? They only exist in horror movies!"

"It's blasphemy; that's what it is!" an older gentleman was heard shouting over the noise of the crowd. "They're a blight sent down to us by the good Lord himself in order to see if we're fitting to take part in His new world!"

"Honey, can't you carry this suitcase?" another woman who did not sound all that concerned with the situation asked. "I'm holding onto the baby!"

"Forget the suitcase!" a man assumed to be her husband exclaimed as the sound of luggage clattering to the ground was heard. "It's just going to slow us down. All you have in there are clothes anyway."

"Clothes for the both of us and the baby," she quickly retorted in annoyance. "If you think I'm going to take shelter wearing only the clothes on my back and stay there for only the heavens know how long, then you're sorely mistaken. Think about how drab it'll be to be wearing the same thing every day!"

"…You're unbelievable woman, you know that?"

"Oh, may the good Lord guide us in this our hour of need and place us under His divine protection!" another older gentleman was heard praying in a tone barely audible above all the chaos. "May He bestow upon us all both the strength to persevere through this otherworldly challenge and the courage to face the devil's fearsome wrath!"

Amidst all of the sudden commotion they were now bombarded with, the three teens continued on their way to their destination. They now had to fight their way somewhat through the reverse current of people that were moving at a remarkably calm pace considering. Cars packed with people were also driving down the roads, some at dangerous speeds, with most heading towards the direction of the school. Many were on foot carrying with them backpacks and suitcases also heading in the same direction. No doubt they already heard the orders to evacuate and to head to the nearby shelter in order to safely ride out the oncoming zombie invasion.

Not surprisingly, most of the evacuators were adults with the occasional crying baby being held in a protective mother's arms. Some of the men were actually pushing others away so as to have their families move through the growing crowd faster, not caring if they ended up hurting others in the process. Very few high school people were seen amongst the evacuees. It was obvious those were the few who managed to escape the school and went to warn their families for these particular groups of people were heading in the opposite direction of the school. Whether or not their friends or neighbors believed them remains to be seen, but they probably did not judging by the vast amount heading to the high school.

"Shouldn't we tell them to head to Suffern?" the teen asked as another car zoomed by, not caring whether or not they ended up accidentally running over innocent people. "The school isn't safe anymore."

"Do you really think they're going to believe us?" Greg growled out as he was nearly run over by said passing car. "We don't recognize anybody here. They'd probably think we're a bunch of kids and just ignore us. That and they don't know about Suffern being another designated safe zone. Don't you remember the officer saying that only the school was advertised as the nearest disaster shelter?"

"They'd think we're crazy telling them to run somewhere further away," Teddy agreed as a passing woman nearly pushed him to the ground. "They're all probably too scared to listen to any other suggestions apart from the police's."

"But we can't just let them unknowingly walk to their deaths!" Billy countered as he began telling the nearest person about the high school being a major danger. All he received for his efforts was an ignored reaction. He tried once again with a passing couple and immediately got his hand swatted away the moment he tried to kindly reach the man's shoulder.

"Can't say we didn't tell you so," the blond said with a sigh as he saw his best friend try again and garner the same results. "Nobody under these circumstances is going to listen to anybody who isn't either an officer or a member of the military."

"…I just thought I'd give it a try," the raven haired teen responded in a despondent tone as he made his way back to Teddy's side. "You know I don't like sitting around doing nothing when I can try and do something."

"Well, I suppose it's the thought that counts," Greg replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he continued to lead them to his girlfriend's house. "I doubt it does a lot of good in these circumstances, though. Oh well, let's just hurry and get to my girl's house. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave this zombie-infested town behind us."

Without wasting any more time trying to persuade people into heading to Suffern, the three continued to fight their way through the flow of people. Thankfully, the crowd only lasted a short while as they quickly arrived at the tail end of it. They soon arrived in front of a plain two-story house with a large oak tree growing in the front yard and a silver Subaru van parked out in the driveway.

"Well, we're here guys," the teen announced in a relieved tone as the crowd slowly started to disappear from their view. "Welcome to my girlfriend's home that we're about to raid for our own personal gain."

"Gee, you don't have to put it like that, Greg," Teddy stated as they walked up to the front porch. "You're making it sound like we're a couple of average thieves looking to make a quick buck."

"Might as well be considering what we're doing kind of borders on unlawful entry," he said in a joking manner before putting his hand in a nearby potted plant and soon pulled out a silver key. "Figured she'd put it there again. I can't help but think she purposefully let me see where she hid the house keys. Probably thought I could use it to sneak in to her place some day or something like that."

"Aren't you worried about her, Greg?" Billy suddenly asked as the door was effortlessly opened. "I mean, you haven't seemed too concerned about her since you've met up with us. The only time I remember seeing you with her was when Teddy and I barely made it into the cafeteria before you closed it on us."

"…To be perfectly honest, we were on the verge of breaking up before all this shit started," Greg explained with a sigh once they were all inside the simply decorated entrance hall and closed the door behind them. "Turns out she was cheating on me and actually had sex with another guy."

"Sorry to hear about that," the blond apologized as he took note of a nearby set of stairs leading to the second floor. "Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"I only figured out about her little escapades late last night. I probably would've stayed in the dark had she not accidentally speed-dialed my number on her cell while sexing it up with her other guy. When I confronted her about it, she said that she wanted some action before high school was over, essentially saying that I was moving too slow with the relationship. I mean, can you blame a guy for wanting to wait a bit before the big moment if he's feeling kind of nervous about it?"

"Funny, I never thought of you to be nervous about anything," Teddy stated with a small chuckle that earned him an annoyed glare from Greg. "But yeah, I'd so want to break up with her immediately if I were in your shoes."

"But then why were you with her back in the cafeteria?" the raven haired teen asked as they entered the living room. "If you were angry with her, wouldn't she have been the last person you wanted to be around?"

"Hey, things got pretty hectic pretty quickly there!" Greg defended himself as he made his way into the kitchen. "I didn't really have my head on straight to be thinking about whether or not I hated her. All I was concerned with then was surviving the zombie fest and getting the people I knew out if it safely.

"Now why don't you stop with the questions and start helping me gather some supplies?" he quickly changed subjects as cluttering could be heard from the kitchen. "I really don't want to hang around here if and when those monsters end up swarming the streets. I'll take care of gathering the food and drinks down here; you two go upstairs and pack up whatever medicines and stuff you can carry. We'll stuff them all in the back of the van outside and make our way to Suffern with that."

"No need to be pushy, Greg," the blond called out before leading Billy up the stairs and following closely behind. "I'm sure we'll be able to get everything and get out of here with time to spare. Just concern yourself with trying to remember the driving lessons you took during the high school summer driver's education program."

The other teen had said something in retort but was quickly muddled by the sound of more clattering. Whatever he said must not have been important since he did not bother to repeat himself.

"He can drive?" Billy asked as the two reached the second floor landing. His feet automatically went to the bathroom where his mind figured the medicines and whatnot would most likely be kept in. "Isn't he only sixteen?"

"Sixteen-and-a-half. He's a junior this year. Once you're at his age, you're eligible to have a learner's permit. I can't say I'm confident in his driving skills, but he's definitely a lot more competent behind the wheel than the two of us combined."

With a skeptic look pasted on his face, the raven haired teen took off his backpack and carefully placed it on the bathroom floor. And instead of next providing an answer, he opened a cupboard off to the side of the porcelain sink in search of medicinal supplies they could take with them. Unfortunately, all he saw in there were just prescription medication that he knew would do none of them any good.

"Nothing but prescribed medication in here," he murmured disappointedly as he closed the cupboard. "No way am I going to be packing them up." He then glanced over at Teddy who had since taken to searching the drawers deeper into the bathroom. "Got any luck on your end, Teddy? All I found were medicines none of us can use."

"I found some boxes of bandages and a couple tubes of antibiotic cream," Teddy replied as he held up a hand with said stuff without looking up. "There's also some anti-itch cream mixed in here that we might end up using. Can't really say it's what we're looking for, but I suppose it's a start."

"A pretty bad start if you ask me," the other said in a half joking manner before rolling his eyes. He then took notice of the mirror directly above the sink looking like it doubled up as a cabinet. Curious, he placed a hand at the mirror's edge and effortlessly opened the mirror door. He was then greeted with what they had initially come in to find. "Got it! Here's some over-the-counter medicine we can use. It looks like they were ready to take on anything that required a pill to get better."

"That's good!" the blond happily responded as he quickly made his way to the cabinet to look over the contents. "Let's see what we got here. We have Tylenol, Bayer aspirin, Ibuprofen, Dayquil cold tablets, some day and nighttime allergy relief, some cold and fever antibiotic pills, some stomach relief medication, and some multivitamin supplements both in pill and chewable form. Looks like we have everything we'll need for whatever comes up. They even have some diabetic medication mixed in with these regular medicines."

"I really don't think we're going to be using that anytime soon," Billy said with a half-smile before beginning to stuff his backpack with the over-the-counter medication. "The last time I checked, neither of us was diabetic, and I have a feeling that Greg's just as healthy as us. How about we just stick with what we need? Don't forget that I have my laptop, my charger, and school work in here."

"Do you really think school work is important right now? That should be the last thing on your mind. Just get rid of it! It's only going to end up making your backpack even heavier and slow you down."

"…I suppose you're right," the raven haired teen admitted after giving it some thought. Once he finished packing up the medicines, he opened another compartment in his backpack and began pulling out a rather thick binder and some loose papers. "I doubt our school is going to recover that quickly from a zombie invasion. But I'm not getting rid of my laptop! You never know when we might need it later."

"Hey, I never said anything about that," Teddy retorted as he took off his own backpack and began emptying it of inessential items. "That thing might be our only source of information when we're out of the road. Is the battery charged up?"

"It's charged all the way to maximum capacity. And the Wi-Fi hotspot I have on my phone's in top shape. We'll have internet connection no matter where we are provided nothing ends up jamming the signal."

"Good; the last thing we need is to be completely disconnected from this problem," the blond said as he added his junk to the pile of school materials piled next to Billy. "I'd like to stay on top of this mess as long as we possibly can. Just make sure you don't use that battery unless you really have to. I doubt you'll have much of a chance to charge it once we're on our way to Suffern.

"Now that we're done here, why don't we head back downstairs and see how Greg's holding up?" he suggested as the two shouldered their backpacks. "He might need some help with the food packing."

With a nod of his head in agreement, Billy followed Teddy out of the bathroom and back down the stairs to the entrance hall. Once there, they heard a door opening along with the sound of footsteps coming from the kitchen.

"Greg, is that you?" Teddy asked in a cautious tone.

"No duh, Sherlock," Greg's sarcastic voice was heard answering with a sort of grunt present in his tone. "Who else do you think would be scavenging down here? Did you guys find some medicinal supplies upstairs?"

"Everything from the common headache to potential fevers," Billy announced as they both entered the kitchen and saw Greg carrying a box of something. "We even found some bandages and antibiotic cream. We've already packed them all in my backpack. Since we're done, do you need any help with the food?"

"Yeah, could you help me carry the boxes out into the car?" he motioned with his head towards the far end of the kitchen where a few more boxes were resting before heading back outside. "I've packed all the canned goods and sealed packaged foods I could find into those things. It'll be enough to last us a good while in case we end up getting stranded on the way to Suffern. I've already packed some bottles of water that were stored under the emergency stash, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Do you really think we'll need to carry that much food?" the blond asked as he peeked into one of the boxes and saw lots of cans along with a handheld battery-operated can opener resting on top of them. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but don't you think you're being a little bit extreme here?"

"You obviously haven't read or watched many survivor-horror movies," the teen grunted out as he reentered the house with his hands now free. "Every time something like this happens in those shows, people are always trying to find ways to get away from the trouble. They never think long-term about whether they might need to stock up on food or whatnot should it end up spreading. It always ends up that they have to live in a world ravaged by zombies and trying their damnedest to survive the next day. I'm not planning on taking any chances with our survival if this is what it turns out to be!"

"B-but what are the chances of that even happening?" the raven haired teen asked with a slightly nervous chuckle. "I mean, the zombie problem might only be taking place in this part of New York. It might not even be as widespread as you're making it out to be."

"Still, I'd rather not be gambling with our lives on this. We either go to Suffern over-prepared or risk being caught in survival mode with nothing but the clothes on our backs. Now are you guys going to help me out or what?"

"…You two go ahead and pack the rest of the stuff into the car; I'm going to look for a T.V. and see if I can find anything about this on the news," Billy answered as Teddy nodded his head in agreement before taking a box of food out to the car. Apparently, the blond was also thinking about taking a peek at the news to see just how bad this problem was. Greg merely gave off an annoyed grunt before taking another box out. "We might learn more about what all this is about."

As he made his way to the connecting room that was the dining room, his eyes caught sight of some boxes of juices and soda sitting in the corner just out of view from the kitchen. He made a mental note to either get Teddy or Greg to help carry the stuff to the car when they came back. However, he was right now set on finding the living room so he could get on the news and see just how bad things were.

Fortunately for him, the search was short-lived as the next room he entered was a simply decorated living room that housed a television hanging on a wall mount. The remote was located on a glass table top situated underneath the television. He quickly made a beeline for it and turned the television on.

"_…is all we know at this moment!_" Billy immediately heard someone say on the television. Apparently, the channel was already set on a news station. "_Reporting for Channel Five News, this is Paul Swanson of the Daily Bugle._"

"_Alright, thank you Paul for taking time out of your schedule to cover the story,_" a female news anchor with long black hair and lips accentuated with red lipstick thanked in a calm tone despite the worry showing on her face. "_If you are just tuning in, we are right now covering breaking news. Albany is currently overrun with these zombie-like people. The army and local police are trying their best to keep everything under control, but we right now have no reports on their current developments. We'll now move onto the town of Southfields where another journalist from the Daily Bugle, Kat Farrell, is currently on location with the latest up-to-date news. Kat?_"

"_Yes, let me first start off by thanking you Jessica and Channel Five for allowing me to pose as an anchor for this story,_" a woman was heard thanking as the screen shifted to a red head. In the background were the police and military around what seemed to be a barricade with zombies on the other side trying to get past. "_It's a great honor for a behind-the-desk journalist like myself to be reporting on the field._

"_Now let me go ahead and give you the latest on this stunning development,_" the woman called Kat quickly swung back to the main topic as she moved aside so that the camera could get a better shot of the background. "_As you can no doubt see, these people who have been dubbed by many as 'zombies' are trying to break through the police and military barricade set up behind me. By some claims we've heard from some of the locals who had escaped from northern Southfields, these 'zombies' were seen killing other people by means of cannibalism. Naturally, we have yet to see for ourselves whether or not this is the actual case of things. However, it does entitle a pretty chilling thought._

"_So far, the barricade is keeping these monstrous people away from us, but the military have told me that it's only to buy them time until they can deploy their master plan,_" Kat continued on as she began explaining what was going on at that moment."_Until then, they have warned all citizens in the immediate area to quickly take cover in your designated shelter zones. They have also warned us to find shelter and have refused to answer any questions at this time. Back to you, Jessica._"

"_Did the military ever mention what exactly their master plan is, Kat?_" the reporter back in the station called Jessica asked. "_I would suspect it would have something to do with putting an end to this frightful episode we're experiencing._"

"_Unfortunately, everybody's keeping tightlipped about this,_" the field reporter answered with a small frown. "_I only chanced to hear about a master plan when I happened to overhear some of the military men talking amongst themselves. They quickly brushed me off when I asked about it. I even tried asking some of the local police about what it might be, but they seem to be in the dark about it._"

"_And how about the reports on the zombie-like people? It sounds almost like something straight out of a Hollywood horror film. Have you learned anything more from either the military or police about this?_"

"_As I said earlier, the military is keeping quiet about everything. However, the police seem more lax with the giving of details. According to them, these cannibalistic people are in fact zombies in every sense of the word. One of the officers I interviewed a few minutes ago told a chilling account of people being eaten right in front of him. Of course, I won't go into detail being that it's quite graphic._

"_He also warned about the victims coming back to life after being eaten and taking on the form of zombies. So far, I have yet to confirm any of this to be the truth. Once I get an answer to this or come across a new development, I'll get back to you. For now, all we know is that these zombies are being held back by this barricade and that all citizens are being urged to retreat to the nearest designated shelter._"

"_Alright, thank you very much Kat for taking time out of your busy schedule at the Daily Bugle to help us with this coverage,_" Jessica thanked Kat before the camera shot back to the news station. "_Once again, this is breaking news for those of you who have just joined us. There have been reports of many incidents of cannibalism from people who have been dubbed by many as zombies. Because of how quickly this murderous spree has spread and how many are involved, the military has moved in to help local police take control of the situation. At the time being, citizens are being asked to evacuate to designated shelter zones for safety reasons. For Southfields, shelters are being set up in high schools and community centers. We'll keep you posted as often as we can when new information comes up._

"_Also, there have been reports that neighboring states are also suffering from this same zombie problem,_" she continued on as she looked down at her papers. "_According to our sources, the states north and west of New York are considered to be danger zones. Officials are strongly advising people to avoid heading there at all costs. Rhode Island has even gone so far as to barricade itself from the outside world in order to ride out this mayhem. If you want to get out of the state, then the only course of action seems to be to head south as officials didn't say anything about that direction being dangerous._

_"And now we're going to move on to one of our Channel Five choppers that's giving us an overhead view of what exactly is going on at the other side of these military barricades. As you can all see, these zombie-like people are walking around slowly with what appears to be limps. They even seem to be banging at some windows and doors. I would suppose that there are some people in those buildings that they are trying to get to. Nevertheless, it's a particularly chaotic scene out in the other side of those barricades._"

"Well, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky we're not trapped on the other side," Greg stated so suddenly that Billy jumped a bit. "From what the news anchor just said, it doesn't sound like Suffern is having any trouble with these zombies. We'll definitely be in safe hands once we get there."

"Geez, how long have you been standing there?" Billy asked as he took some deep breaths to slow down his rapid-beating heart. He saw Greg leaning against the doorway to the dining room with his arms crossed. Teddy was leaning against the dining table and looking over the other's shoulder at the television.

"Long enough to know that the military thinks they have everything under control with their barricade plan," the teen replied as he gave off a scoff. "They've deluded the people into thinking they're safe; it's not even funny. I'm telling you, these people have no idea exactly what they're doing. They're just going to end up getting themselves killed the longer they stay at the barricade tending to it. That's how these things tend to spread, from people relying on plans that are only going to end up failing."

"You don't know that for sure, though," the raven haired teen countered as he turned his attention back to the news and saw them shooting an overhead shot of what appeared to be a shelter in Central Park. "If they hadn't put up that barricade while we were at school, I don't think we would've even had the time to come here to get ready for Suffern. That's proof that what they're doing is working."

"I never said that it wasn't working. All I'm saying is that it's a pretty poor temporary fix to an enormously big problem. Don't you understand, Billy? It doesn't matter where the military set up their precious barricades. Those zombies are always going to find some way to cross over or even come from an unforeseen direction. All it accomplishes is buying simple citizens like us more time to escape.

"And in case you missed it while trying to stay alive during the zombie incident in school, anybody who happened to get bitten by those monsters ended up turning into one of them! You already saw what happened inside the cafeteria. I wouldn't be surprised if every single shelter in New York had at least one person who was already wounded by a zombie just waiting to turn into an unsuspecting killing machine."

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Greg on this," Teddy spoke up after listening to the short one-sided argument. "It's true that we don't know whether this barricade plan is going to fail. It might actually end up working. That will all be a moot point if a zombie manages to sneak its way past the barricade and kill everyone. Like he just reminded us, we saw that very scenario taking place when we were all holed up in the school cafeteria. We saw someone turn into a zombie right in front of our eyes! And I don't doubt what Greg said in that those bitten turn into a monster, even if I never saw it happen myself. If one zombie can take down a group of students in a cafeteria, then one can easily take down an entire safe zone from the inside out even with military professionals overseeing things. Face it, Billy; the plan that the city has to protect us isn't going to work in the long run."

"If you still think what I'm saying is just a bunch of bull, then feel free to stay behind and see for yourself what's really going to happen!" Greg sharply stated as he walked back to the kitchen. "Otherwise, you better kick your ass into high gear and get in the van. We've got what we came here to get, so let's stop wasting time and get out of here before those monsters start flooding the streets!"

"…Do you really think Greg's right about this?" Billy asked once the other teen was out of earshot. "I mean, whatever the military's got planned has got to work in the long run. Just because someone changed into a zombie inside a cafeteria full of students doesn't mean that it's going to happen in every safe zone. It even looked like the military were doing a good job keeping those things away during the news cast."

"That may be true, but then it also goes to say that survivors huddled in the middle of a zombie-infested town are still going to end up dead," Teddy explained as he placed a comforting arm around Billy's shoulders before heading out to the kitchen back door. "They'll soon run out of food and will be forced to scavenge for more amidst a sea of walking dead. And even if they manage to survive off of scraps, it'll end up running out. In the end, they'll either die from starvation or from the attempt at finding food. I don't like to think about it just as much as you, but that's the sad reality of things.

"That's at least the case for here in Southfields," he quickly explained as he felt the other's shoulders quickly sag in sadness. "I can't say whether or not Greg's right about the rest of New York or even the entire United States. I desperately hope he's not. Either way, the point he was trying to get at was that we should always be expecting the unexpected. I know he didn't quite say it like that, but that was the underlying message I got. Trust me; I've been friends with him long enough to be able to read between the lines."

"So you know him better than you know me?" the raven haired teen asked in a teasing tone as his shoulders were squared up once more. "Are you secretly telling me that he's a better friend than I am?"

"Only if you want me to think that way," the other played along with an impish grin that earned him a punch in the arm. "Hey, no need to get physical! You don't really want me to think that Greg's my real best friend, do you?"

"Would you two lovebirds stop stalling and hurry your butts up?" Greg's annoyed voice was heard shouting from outside. The two had yet to exit the house yet. "Stop trying to sneak some kisses and get out here! I'm going to drive off without you if neither of you don't get here in the next minute!"

"…No, you're definitely the only one who can fit the role of best friend," Teddy said as his cheeks gained a slight dusting of pink that had stemmed from Greg's outburst. "You don't try to rush or embarrass me every single day."

"I don't see how that was embarrassing," Billy wondered out loud as it was now his turn to grin impishly at Teddy's reaction. "It's not as though we really are a couple of lovebirds or anything, right?"

"Uh, r-right!" the blond answered a bit quicker than he had intended before quickly making his way out to the driveway. His cheeks seemed to have gained an even deeper shade of pink to them. "I'm going to get some fresh air before hopping into the car. Don't take too long in here!"

_Aww, he's pretty cute when he gets flustered like that,_ the raven haired teen thought as his grin changed into an amused smile. _Not like I'll admit it to his face or anything like that, though. Now if only Greg was right in that we really were kissing each other… No way am I going to ruin a friendship over something like this, though. Oh well, at least nothing's stopping me from pretending to be his boyfriend!_

With a childish giggle accompanying this thought, Billy made his way out into the driveway and closed the door behind him. The television was all but forgotten and continued talking about breaking news on the zombie incident to a now abandoned house.

* * *

Well, that's it for this new chapter. I had decided to make the ending of this to be a bit lighthearted to sort of offset the rather serious nature that has been very prevalent for the past few chapters. I hope I ended up making that work.

And sorry for those of you who I might have insulted with my references to God at the beginning of the chapter. I am not a religious person myself and am clearly not an expert on the Lord, so I apologize to any of you who take offense to whatever I might have said wrong in His regard.

Now with that out of the way, let me go ahead and do the outtakes for this chapter. Again, sorry for being short with the author's note since I have to move onto my homework right after this.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful for me so long as they are not something like a pointless flame. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Teddy: Billy, stop trying to convince people that Suffern is safer.

Billy: (Running from person to person) But I can't just let them go to the high school that's clearly dangerous!

Greg: Is he always this hard-headed?

Teddy: (Small sigh) Only when he feels there's something he can do.

(Billy gets punched in the face by a man when he tried to talk to a girl)

Greg: I think that guy thought he was either a zombie or trying to hit on her.

Teddy: I told him this wasn't going to work. (Shakes head in annoyance before going to help Billy)

Greg: (Observes the two from afar) And it never fails that you run to Billy's side whenever he's in trouble. I wonder when he's going to officially score with the guy?

/

Billy: Are you sure that Greg can drive that van?

Teddy: Well, he did take the driving course during summer vacation. He's the only one qualified enough to even try.

Billy: (Sounding skeptical) But can he drive?

Teddy: ...Probably not. (Adds as an afterthought) Now that I think about it, he did manage to cause a minor accident during the field test.

Billy: (Looks slightly worried) That doesn't really make me feel safe about him driving now.

Greg: Don't think I can't hear you two dissing me from here!

/

Billy: Boy, there are a lot of over-the-counter medicines in here. It's like they were prepared for anything!

Teddy: Maybe the family were stockpiling on it so they could get high whenever they wanted to.

Billy: You really think these people would waste so much money for that? Their house is pretty well-furnished than what I'd expect for druggies.

Teddy: Maybe they're just getting these on the down-low and selling some at slightly higher prices to prevent money loss.

Billy: (Looks at Teddy with deadpan gaze) ...You've been watching way too many mafia and gangster shows, you know?

/

Teddy: Uh, Billy?

Billy: Yeah, Teddy?

Teddy: (Looks nervous) There's something I want to tell you.

Greg: (Shouting) Hey, get your asses out here you lovebirds! Stop trying to sneak a glance at each other and get in the van!

Teddy: God damn it, Greg! (Quickly turning red with embarrassment before quickly walking out of the house)

Billy: (With amused smile) Wow, I never seen him that embarrassed before! (As an afterthought) But still, how did Greg actually comment on what was actually going on in my mind? Freaky coincidence.


	8. Out on the Open Road

Hello everybody! Yeah, it's been a while since I last updated this story. Well, not really a little while since it was only about two or so weeks. The main reason for that is one that I've been stating for quite a while now; my collage classes demand my utmost attention right now. As such, I'm not able to spend as much time on my stories as I would like to right now. However, that doesn't mean that I have abandoned these stories on here by any means. I'm just taking my time and trying to complete whatever I can while sticking with what I'm supposed to be doing for school.

That and I literally have other stories that I have to write. These stories happen to be very important because they're a part of my college class, Beginning Workshop in Fiction. Those stories take utmost priority since they are the ones that will be graded at the end of the day. That could also explain why I might be confused on some of the details in this story because my mind is constantly shifting from one story to the next just to be able to satisfy the requirements that each exercise demands of me to do. Oh well, at least I am getting good practice in that class and learning a lot more about writing than I ever did during my high school years where all they really taught you was how to write professional papers like essays and whatnot. Not that they're not important or anything, I personally just don't find much practical use for such skills.

Anyway, that's enough of me and my excuses that are quite valid when you put them all under perspective. School is always important no matter how old you are, you know? College just takes the importance level to a completely different spectrum. Oh well, I guess that's just their way of preparing us for the real world where things would be just as demanding if not more so.

Well, I hope that you'll all be able to enjoy this new chapter that was two weeks in the making. Like I said earlier, I'm sorry if some things might end up sounding off and whatever. After all, I was pretty busy with my school work and might have gotten confused along the way. So don't stick it to me if that ends up being the case.

With that out of the way, I'll let you all go ahead and start reading this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful in that they keep me writing my stories as well as give me a general overview of how you as the readers are liking the story. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Out on the Open Road  
**

It had been about half an hour since the teens had stocked up on food and left for Suffern in a van. Surprisingly, Greg proved to be a pretty competent driver despite only having a summer's worth of driving training as he drove through the streets of Southfields. Teddy was sitting in the front serving as the driver's second set of eyes, pointing out whatever directions they passed by telling them where to go and warning him of any potential dangers. Billy was in the second row sitting amongst their supplies and was busy typing away on his laptop. Luckily for him, there was an AC adapter for the car outlet sticking out from one of the seat pockets that happened to be a match with his laptop charger. This meant he could be on his computer without having to waste the battery life.

"I hope you're not looking up something stupid back there like porn sites in an attempt to calm your nerves," Greg stated as he stole a quick glance back at the other. They were currently in stand-still traffic on a high-rise freeway that cut through the town of Sloatsburg, so he could afford to take his eyes off the road. "If so, then you better let us in on it. Some of us in here have nerves that are more shot than yours."

"If I were watching porn, it wouldn't be something I'd invite someone to watch with me," Billy answered in deadpan fashion without taking his eyes off the screen. "I wouldn't even think about letting Teddy watch with me. And besides, that's not my thing," he added as Teddy turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised in interest at the mention of his name. "What I'm really doing here is trying to get some more info about this zombie invasion. There's always something on the internet if it's something as big as this."

"And did you figure out anything new regarding the zombies?" Teddy asked as he continued to look at his best friend in a weird fashion at the earlier comment concerning him. "Hear anything about this that we should know about?"

"Well, it seems this is a lot more widespread than either us or the news stations had initially thought," the raven haired teen explained as he kept his eyes on the screen and avoided the other's gaze. "According to some of the blogs I'm reading, the furthest that this has gone to so far is Iowa, and I'm speaking in terms of distance from here in New York! That would theoretically mean that at least the entire eastern half of the United States is in the process of being infected! I wouldn't even think it a stretch to say that parts of the west are also under zombie control."

"But that's impossible!" the driver exclaimed as he clearly could not believe what was said. "We only figured out about all this for ourselves a couple hours ago. How could most of the eastern United States already be going through this hell while we're only hearing about all this for the first time? Don't you think news like this would go spreading like wildfire? I mean, this is something that's practically threatening the survival of the United States! Hell, news about our overseas wars made bigger headlines than this!"

"But this isn't like those terrorist attacks," the blond explained with a sigh before sitting properly once more. "Think about it for a minute. Telling others something like this is like asking someone to believe right off the bat that aliens exist. News stations first need some semblance of facts before airing a story. Many probably figured this to be just some kind of elaborate early Halloween prank. And even if a station was convinced that what was happening was real, do you really think their fellow colleagues from another state would take them seriously? Anybody who hasn't experienced this first-hand would probably think it's just some kind of promotional stint, even if there's video or photographic proof. Nobody who sees themselves as realists would even consider the thought of zombies actually wandering around and killing, especially when it's a couple weeks before Halloween.

"And besides, we don't even know when those blogs were posted," he continued on as he switched his attention to Billy. "We don't know whether they're suffering through this at the same time as us or really have already been through it. Billy, do those blogs have timestamps saying when they were posted? And do any of them say anything as to where these zombies just suddenly appeared from?"

"…The earliest blog I can see that talks about this was first almost a month ago," Billy answered after spending a few seconds assumedly typing in some commands. "It was originally posted in Indiana and says that they just started coming from Illinois. Nobody from Illinois posted on this particular site, so I don't know if anybody there said anything about this. This means that either these zombies can somehow travel around quickly or people who were already infected are traveling around and transforming along the way. If that weren't the case, then the states should've been able to keep these things in one place and spread the word. This proves that all this has been going on under our noses for a while."

"Y-You're kidding me!" Greg growled out in frustration as he struck the car horn repeatedly. "If people who were bit or whatever are running around the states and then turning into zombies, then there's no way in hell we're going to be safe anywhere! The chances of Suffern being a safe haven just went up in flames. We're definitely going to need to come up with a new game plan. I'm only going to ask you guys this question once," he stated firmly as he shifted in his seat so he could have a good look at the others. "Do you two still think that Suffern is the best place for us to go?"

"I don't think we have much choice in the matter right now," Teddy simply replied as he saw Billy closing his laptop and putting it away into his backpack along with the AC adapter cable. "We're stuck in the middle of stand-still traffic with no way to get out of it. It doesn't matter whether or not we still want to go there. Try asking us again once we start moving and get close to a freeway exit."

"I still say we head to Suffern," Billy suggested as he was now staring out the window and looked at the other cars. "Even if it isn't safe there anymore, don't you think it's better to keep moving around than just staying in one place? I still remember how we managed to get surrounded and cornered to the quad back at school. If they can do that without us knowing, then shouldn't it be best if we kept moving?

"And besides, didn't you say yourself that your family most likely ran there to stay with your cousins?" he added as if to further persuade Greg that they should continue on their original path. "And my brother is probably hiding out somewhere in Suffern High School. We both have family there, and I'm sure you're not about to abandon them just because you think it isn't safe in that town anymore. Regardless whether or not it's infested with zombies, don't we owe it to ourselves to at least go and see if they're there? If anything, it would at least give us piece of mind to know whether or not they're alright."

"…God, you two sure know how to double-team a guy by spewing out a bunch of logical crap," the third teen said with a light growl before calming down and pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's probably enough to make even the most stubborn of people to agree with you. You guys ever thought about taking on a job that revolves around the management industry? You two would definitely make great co-managers what with how you can supplement each other's explanations without much of a hitch."

"Unfortunately, Billy can't really quite take on the role of leader very well," the blond teased. "The last time the two of us were teamed up for a science project, he couldn't tell me clearly what needed to be done next."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that the teacher printed the instructions with old ink that ended up making the print completely faded!" the raven haired teen countered with a scowl that looked almost like a pout. "A lot of students were complaining then about how they were having a hard time figuring things out. And you weren't helping out much either what with you telling me to hurry up every two seconds."

"Well, I couldn't help it since the project required we heated chemicals and combine them. I needed to have poured in the next chemical before the mixture got too hot. I wasn't going to run the risk of it boiling over like the teacher said it would. Who knows what would happen if the mixture got onto us or our stuff? And no, I simply couldn't just turn off the heat and wait for you because he also warned that the mixture would be dead if it started cooling down before it was finished."

"But it wasn't as though you were designated to just babysitting duty. You so had more than a good chance to help me out at the same time! In fact, I distinctively remember you just completely ignoring my repeated calls for help. That makes our project failure for that day partly your fault, as well. So if you think that I'm bad playing the role of leader, then you're bad at playing the subordinate and assistant role."

"If I can do pretty good as co-captain of the baseball team, then I think I can do just as good as an assistant. I'd like to think that I've already had a lot of practice in that since it's the kind of thing that a co-captain already does on an average team meeting. I'm sure Greg would agree with me on this."

"Don't even think about dragging me into you guys' argument," Greg said as he let out a small chuckle. "I don't want to say something you might end up using against me. And besides, you've got to start learning how to clean up your own messes, Teddy."

"Oh, what a bunch of help you were there," Teddy growled out as he rolled his eyes at the neutral response. "All I wanted was for you to at least agree with me, and all you gave me was the cold shoulder."

"And I'm going to do a lot more than that if you don't stop going on about this," the other warned in a semi-serious tone. "I'm going to kick you out of this van and make you walk all the way to Suffern. Don't think I'm not capable of doing that. I hope I don't need to remind you about me kicking you out of our hotel room during our little league game four years ago because of your complete idiocy."

Instead of answering back, the blond decided to keep quiet. He knew better than anyone else that with the exception of being totally pissed, Greg was always dead serious whenever he sounded half so. It was one of his strange quirks that he claimed was a way to gauge whenever people ever took his vocal hints. So as an alternative, he decided to turn on the radio and listen to whatever music was on.

"_And that concludes the status report in Philadelphia,_" a female newscaster was heard instead of the calming tunes of music. "_And now, we'll continue with our special report with an update on the current status of New York._"

"So much for relaxing music," he sighed out as the radio reporter had apparently taken a moment to pause. "Guess we're stuck with hearing more reports about this. At least we'll probably be able to learn more about all this."

"I'm actually more concerned about the report on Philadelphia that we just missed," the driver stated as he was starting to grow frustrated again, this time at the stymied traffic. "That's to the south of us in Pennsylvania. If zombies are there, then heading to Suffern might really be the worst idea we've had."

Before either of the three could add more to the valid concern, they heard the sound of a voice clearing before the woman started to speak again.

"_According to recent reports just submitted to the station, the President has changed the state of New York's disaster rating to level two. This means that the state can no longer hold their own against these zombies without the help of the military. Despite this rather grim report, it pales in comparison to Ohio which has been all but obliterated by these creatures despite being put under Level One Disaster classification. This seems to indicate that the United States military factions aren't properly prepared to handle this situation. However, how could one ever be prepared for something like a zombie attack? It's just too far-fetched to even consider preparing against!_

"_But then this begs a lot of other questions that I'm sure you're all asking yourselves,_" the woman continued on as some strange sounds were heard coming from the background. "_Where exactly did these zombies first started appearing? How have they managed to multiply to the frightening numbers being reported by many states as in the thousands? Why have they started terrorizing us all with their grotesquely evil presence? And most importantly, when is this nightmare going to end?_

"_While we can't answer any of these questions for sure, we can say for certain that these monsters seemed to have first appeared in the western United States. There are too many conflicting reports for us to be able to pinpoint it exactly. And also, many have sent us responses that zombies can multiply if and when they injure or kill someone. That means anyone who has been hurt in any way by theses monsters is already good as dead. They don't turn immediately, but it will happen over time._

"_This is all that we've learned thus far about this situation,_" the reporter concluded as the sound of papers being shuffled could be heard. "_We shall keep you on the most up-to-date information we run across. Once again, we ask that you keep away from the Philadelphia area if you're headed down there. It has been reported by the military that the city is now a lost cause. They have now cordoned off the city so that nobody can either go in or out. Head only to where they have designated as safe zones unless told otherwise by a military official. This is the New York Radio News signing off!_"

"…Did she just say that Philadelphia is a lost cause?" Greg repeated in a dumbfounded fashion as he stared at the radio like it had suddenly turned into some kind of monster. Instead, it was now emitting white noise and was not playing any music after the conclusion of the special radio announcement. "What exactly does she mean by that? I mean, how bad does the term 'lost cause' actually mean to her and the military?"

"Do we even have to answer that?" Teddy asked in a soft tone before turning the radio off. "If the military won't even bother trying to save the city anymore, then that means that we should avoid going there for any reason. It shouldn't matter much to us since we're not heading that far south."

"But what if we do end up having to head in that direction?" Billy questioned as concern flashed across his face. "We're probably going to have to be on the move a lot, so we might end up having to go there."

"Then we can just take the long way around it," the blond simply explained. "It's not like we can go through since the radio said the military already cordoned off the entire city. The point I'm trying to get at here is that we have absolutely no reason to even think about heading into Philadelphia. If we ever have to head down in that direction, we can just walk around the city and avoid moving through."

"But then what'll happen if those zombies start moving up north towards us?" the raven haired teen asked as the concern failed to leave his voice. "If that's what they end up doing, then we got to think of something once we reach Suffern. We can't keep on heading south knowing how things in Philadelphia are."

"Billy, let me tell you the same thing that I told Greg back from before we left the school. You can't keep worrying about things that haven't happened yet. You're just going to end up stressing yourself out over something that's right now nonexistent. All we can do now is work for what we hope is the right direction to move in."

"…Still, you can't say that I'm not posing a valid concern, Teddy. What if they end up somehow overwhelming the military and escape the quarantine line they set up? They'll start wandering around Pennsylvania along with whatever other zombies are already there and might start making their way up towards us. If we do end up deciding on heading south from Suffern, we might end up running into them. They might end up pulling the same stunt that the ones back at school did to us, surround us and start calling us their dinner!"

"We'll worry about that if and when we ever come across that scenario. I highly doubt, though, that we'll ever get into that bad of a situation. It only happened at school because we were all taken by surprise. The chances of that happening again are pretty bad unless we all decided to not pay attention to anything at the same exact time. I'm sure Greg will agree with me on this."

"…Mind if I took a rain check on that, Teddy?" Greg replied in a low growl as he stared intently at the rearview mirror. He then added as he pointed behind them, "I think we've got more important things to be worrying about right now!"

Confused, the other two looked out at the car's back window to see what he meant and were surprised with the answer. What Greg was looking at was a group of zombies slowly maneuvering through the line of cars and surrounding those that held people in them! Others who had yet to be surrounded were quickly exiting their cars and started to run away from the sudden appearance of the growing horde. They were still pretty far, but it would only be a matter of time before they closed the gap.

"The zombies already caught up to us?!" Billy exclaimed as he seemed captivated by this chaotic sight. "How is that possible? The military looked like they had everything under control when we passed by them earlier!"

"It can only mean that things didn't go as they planned!" Teddy said as he bit his lip in apprehension. "Greg was right; that was only an attempt at a temporary fix. All they did was manage to buy us some time so we could escape. Things are definitely going to Hell here in New York."

"Hell or not, we've got to get out of here!" the third teen stated as he quickly hopped out of the car. "You two better hurry up and help me get the stuff out. I'll be caught dead if we just abandon our supplies!"

Without any arguments, the teens quickly hopped out of the car and began taking out whatever they could grab. Teddy and Billy automatically shouldered their backpacks being that they were easy to carry and held some very important supplies and their only known and reliable connection to the rest of the world.

"AAHHHHH!_!_!_!_! The zombies are here!" they heard several people shouting as they ran away from where they drove from. Some looked as if they were hurt if the blood seen on their clothing along with some favored limbs were not any indication of it. One was even dragging a person who seemed both injured and lethargic.

"Damn, I can't see how much time we have before they get here!" Greg growled out as he tried to see past the panicked crowd and was impeded by both them and abandoned cars. "Billy, I need you to get on top of the van and be our lookout."

"Why do you want me to be the lookout?" the raven haired teen asked as he started to gather the boxes of food towards the seat nearest the van door. "Why don't you have Teddy or yourself do the job?"

"Because you're the only one who has a gun and knows how to use it in case you need to shoot one of them," the other quickly explained as he moved Billy out of the way and took over the supply gathering. "You're the only one who can give us more time to get our stuff. Now stop complaining and start playing our lookout!"

"You heard the guy; hurry and get your butt up there!" the blond reinforced before lifting Billy by the waist to the top of the car despite some very vocal protests. "If it's just one, take it down. If a whole bunch starts coming, then don't waste your bullets on them. That'll be our cue to get out of here."

"God, you're starting to sound like Greg," the other grumbled before steadying his footing on the car roof and feeling strong hands leave his waist. As inappropriate of a time it was, he could not help feeling a bit disappointed at having lost the contact. He then shot back to the other two as he took out his gun, "Fine, I'll do what I can up here to buy us time. You just make sure you don't forget anything."

Without making any kind of snappy comeback, Greg went to work with Teddy on taking the supplies out of the car. They were having a bit of a hard time since a bunch of panicked people were constantly bumping into them. Billy did not have to suffer this since he was on the car roof, but the panic made it hard for him to have a clear view of any zombies in the already cluttered freeway.

"…Found one closing in!" Billy announced as he aimed his gun and carefully shot at a zombie that was both coming closer and about to attack a person. Remembering the officer's advice, he managed to shoot at its head and saw it fall to the ground like a freshly chopped tree. He then quickly shot at another one that was following closely behind the first one with just as expert of a precision. "Got another one, but there's more coming our way! I don't think I'll be able to handle it. How much longer is it going to take?"

"Just take out what you can and warn us when they're like three car lines away!" Greg explained as he was starting to stack the food on top of the bottles of water. "That should be enough time for us to get some distance from these freaks."

"Then consider this your only warning!" the raven haired teen shouted back as he downed another zombie that he caught in the corner of his eye sneaking around from a large transport truck to his left. "A small group has just passed the third line of cars, and I just took down one that was sneaking up from behind the transport truck. I can't tell if there are any more coming around from there, but I can see a whole bunch more coming closer. I can't take on that many at one time, make sure they don't come around from behind the truck, and buy us more time all at once. I think we have to go now!"

"B-but we barely even spent a minute on this!" Teddy stuttered as he looked past the now dwindling crowd of panicked people and saw that Billy was right. Although slow, the zombies were steadily gaining ground and approaching their position. He then said begrudgingly as he picked up his case of water and two boxes of food, "Greg, we've got to get out of here. It's too dangerous to be staying here any longer. Just leave the stuff for whoever's crazy or desperate enough to want them!"

"But we don't even have half the supplies we took yet!" the third teen whined as he switched gazes between their unclaimed supplies and the impending danger. "This is barely even a quarter of it all!"

"I'll help by taking what I can get, but we need to get out of here now!" Billy exclaimed as he jumped off the car roof and immediately took two boxes of food that were already stacked on top of one another. He then shouted as he quickly followed Teddy who had already started to run down the freeway, "Come on, Greg! Hurry up!"

"…God damn it!" Greg growled out before abandoning what was left in the van and quickly catching up with what he managed to get held tightly in his hands. "I can't believe this is how things are turning out!"

Daring to glance behind them, the raven haired teen turned his head around to see how far the other was from them. It was then he realized how close they were to being ambushed by the zombies. They were not yet even four cars away from their van before it was overrun by the monsters. It was clear that they most likely would have been dead had they chosen to stay even a few seconds longer. Greg was even luckier since he had been reluctant to leave the rest of their supplies until the last second.

Since they had taken awhile gathering what little they could of their supplies, they were the only people left that were near the zombies. Everyone else had already left their cars and was now running down the freeway. It was not as though any of them had any choice in the matter seeing as how it was a pretty long way down to the ground, high enough to leave one completely vulnerable should they survive. At least the cars were proving useful in providing obstacles for the slow monsters to waste time maneuvering around.

As they were quickly catching up with the back end of the panicked crowd, Billy could not help but let a thought run through his mind. There was no way they were ever going to fully escape from all this. Just like what happened now, it was always going to find some way to catch up and threaten them with their cold hands of death. They have already escaped their cold grasps four times in just this one day; how many more times can they continue cheating the reaper before their luck ran out? All they could do now was continue with their escape and head towards the only destination that was set before them, the New York/New Jersey border town of Suffern.

* * *

Well, I have something new that I have to tell you all. I had posted this new chapter while at school. At that time, I still had my flash drive. I'm now back at home and discovered that it's now lost in the big world called my college campus. Oh joy. There goes a lot of my hard work.

Oh well, at least I managed to get the best out of a bad situation. All of the homework in my drive was at the least a couple of weeks old and now completely useless. The resume that I had in there was completely outdated as it was first created back in tenth grade for the sake of my introduction to business class I took. All the music I had in there is gone, but that same library is right here in my laptop. All of my stories that I have been working on here is now gone, although this new chapter was lucky to survive because I still had the word file open on my laptop. That and all of the chapters were saved onto here already for you all to read. And my most recent fiction class homework was saved onto there with five pages already done, but I really lucked out there in that particular file was also already left open on my laptop. As such, I got the best of a bad situation.

Just thought I'd let you know about that being that I'm right now sad at the fact I've lost my five year old flash drive. Even though it virtually didn't do any damage to me in terms of losing gravely important files, I'm still sad. Then again, being attached to something for five years and then losing it would make anybody feel sad. As such, I'll be taking a little break in order to both recover and purchase a new flash drive. Thank god my paycheck came in yesterday and I can now afford to buy a new one.

I'll see you all again in probably a couple of weeks once I've found the time to get a new flash drive. For now, I'll leave you with the outtakes.

**Outtakes:**

Teddy: Billy, what are you looking on that laptop of yours?

Billy: Just browsing around.

Greg: Browsing what? You're not looking at porn or something, are you?

Billy: Um...,

Greg: If so, then you should include Teddy into it. (Answers with smug smile) God knows how much he needs it judging by his shitty performance in his Karate club yesterday.

Teddy: That was just a bad day, Greg! Besides, (turns around and grabs laptop) I doubt Billy would look at...something...like... ... (Stares at screen in shock)

Billy: (Chuckles nervously while turning tomato red)

Teddy: ...What the...?

Greg: Hey, it _is_ porn! (Abandons attention to road and leans over to see laptop) Might be gay style, but I'm down to watch with you guys!

Teddy and Billy: Greg!_!_! (Teddy closes laptop quickly)

/

Radio Reporter: _And that concludes our report on the situation in Philadelphia._

Teddy: Sounds like Philadelphia is having their own troubles.

Billy: And I'm willing to bet it has to do with these zombies.

Teddy: If we're lucky, she'll talk about it again later. Then we'll know what's really going on down there.

Greg: You guy's talking about Philadelphia?

Billy: Yeah. Why? (Raises eyebrow in question)

Greg: I love their old fashioned Philly cheese steaks! Maybe we could stop by there and get some later.

Billy and Teddy: ... ... ... (Rolls eyes and ignores random comment)

Greg: What? (Gives innocent look)

/

Greg: Get on top of the van, Billy! We need you to be our lookout.

Billy: Just because I have a gun doesn't mean I automatically get to be a lookout.

Teddy: Just get up there. (Picks Billy up by the waist)

Billy: (With quickly growing blush) H-Hey!_!_!

Teddy: Sorry, but we need you up there to shoot any zombies that gets close.

Billy: ...Oh, fine. I'll do it.

Teddy: Great! (Gives Billy's waist a couple of light squeezes before letting go)

Billy: Wh-What was that about?_!_ (Turns an even deeper shade of red before looking at Teddy who only gives off a suggestive smile in return)

/

Teddy: Come on, Greg; we've got to go!

Greg: I'm not leaving all our stuff here!

Billy: (Shooting zombies on car roof) They're getting closer guys!

Teddy: Just forget it, Greg!

Greg: Screw you, Teddy! (Quickly hops back into car and starts driving forward and crashes into car in front)

Billy: Whoa!_!_!_!_! (Falls off side of car and in front of Teddy)

Teddy: Greg! What are you doing?_!_

Greg: (In disoriented tone) ...I thought I could leave with our stuff...

Billy: (Through gritted teeth while favoring elbow) While just abandoning us?

Greg: ...I was seriously going to come back for you.

Teddy: What a lie. (Shakes head in disappointment)


	9. Camping Out in the Woods

Hello everybody! Sorry for this update taking like two weeks to come up. I was busy trying to finish up one of my other stories that's currently on the brink of total completion. It's still not done yet, but I can't wait for it to be finished. If you want to read it, then it's a Sonic mystery and crime fan fiction titled, "Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law". But that's only if you're interested in it.

And I'm also trying to juggle school work at the same time. At least I can say that I'm definitely doing better with my college classes this quarter, although I can't tell how that will translate with my overall college GPA until the quarter's over. Oh well, all I can do now is wait and see if I really did as great as I think I did.

But yeah, here's a new chapter to this story for you all to read. I was honestly debating how I wanted the setting of this chapter to be as. That's also another reason as to why this took a while to come out. I was not sure how I wanted it to flow. Hopefully, you'll all like what I settled on as my choice. Trust me; I never plan ahead when I write these stories. I like being kept in the dark on the details just as much as you do. Whatever I put on here is all that comes from the top of my head. I personally find that thinking ahead both ruins the story and unintentionally sets up personal expectations that can easily disappoint one from continuing should it not be met.

A good example of this would be the last chapter. I honestly had no intentions of having the zombies appearing on the freeway like that. In fact, I had unconsciously mapped it out in my head that they were just going to listen to the car radio about updates on the zombie attacks and use Billy's computer to get some out-of-state reports. Thankfully, I managed to come up with that on-the-spur idea where they had to abandon both the car and most of their goods. Then again, most zombies stories and movies are kind of like that where the unexpected always happens and they're forced to leave what they worked so hard to obtain.

Anyway, that's enough of me and my rantings that I'm sure none of you really care to hear. Let me leave you all alone so you can read this new chapter in relative peace. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They honestly do provide me with the motivation to continue writing these new chapters for you all to read. That and whatever input that you might have for me is always greatly appreciated, be they just the small things or some big-name problem that you happen to have with the story. Both are appreciated so long as neither one are flame-heavy in terms of just bashing at me for no reason.

Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 9: Camping Out in the Woods**

"This is definitely not what I had in mind when I was hoping for a change in sophomore year," Billy murmured under his breath with a sigh as he cupped his face into his hands. "How is it that zombies are wandering throughout the city and killing anybody it can get their hands on? This is beyond impossible!"

After having survived a string of encounters with monsters once thought to be a figment of one's imagination, he was feeling more than just tired. He was completely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep, hoping that everything was just a part of some insanely jacked up nightmare. Unfortunately, sleep seemed to be just beyond his reach what with all the excitement he has been through.

It had been a little over five hours since zombies had taken over the freeway he was on. The sun had since gone down and bathed the area in a moonless darkness. He along with Teddy and Greg had since found shelter within the wooded trees that bordered the freeway edge. It definitely was not the safest place to take a rest, but they had all agreed that travelling around in the dead of night was an excuse to be taken down by wandering zombies. As such, they had found a small clearing where they lit a fire for both light to see incoming danger and warmth from the cool evening breeze.

However, none of them were anywhere near the point of relaxing. Billy was sitting on a flat rock next to the fire with his face still buried in his hands. It was as if he were trying to allow himself to be swallowed up by the flame's gentle and protective light. Teddy was sitting next to him on a log with a pile of wood next to him and tending to the flames. The supplies that the group had managed to take with them during the freeway incident sat behind him in a small pile. Greg was currently shuffling through said supplies and muttering to himself in a frustrated fashion. Neither of the others knew what exactly he was doing, but they felt it wise to give him some space. After all, it was clear to them that he was still angry at the fact they were forced to abandon a lot of their supplies in the van and was probably just venting it all out on what they had left.

"…Greg, stop messing around with those things," Teddy said after quietly poking at the fire with a long stick for a while. "It's not going to change no matter how many times you count it out. We don't even need to worry about running out of food on the way to Suffern. It's pretty much less than a day's walk from here."

"You don't know that for sure, Teddy!" Greg quickly snapped back without looking up from his work. "Haven't you watched zombie movies before? We might end up having to take the longest route to Suffern just to avoid getting eaten by these monsters. If that's the case, then I doubt what we have here is going to last! That's why I'm here trying to count them out and see how to split the food and water between the three of us."

"Are you telling us you're rationing out our food?" Billy asked in slight disbelief as he brought his face out of his hands and looked at Greg. "Do you really have to do that? We managed to take a lot of canned food with us, and I doubt any of us would be stupid enough to go on an eating binge."

"Unfortunately, the canned food has to be put out of the equation," the other bitterly corrected as his frustration grew more apparent by the second. "Believe it or not, we somehow failed to take the box that had the can opener in it. Without it, those cans are nothing but a waste of space. So unless we miraculously manage to run into another one, all we have left now are some fruits, some bags of chips and peanuts, and a couple boxes of gummy snacks. Note that I'm not counting the three cases of water we thankfully took with us. I think this does call for a bit of rationing so we don't waste what little we managed to save."

"…Are we really in that bad of a situation with the food?" the blond teen asked with slight hesitancy as if he were afraid of the answer. "I mean, you're kind of making it sound like we might have to live out here for a while."

"If either of you ask anything that has to do with this one more time, I swear I'm going to knock you out! I don't need any more annoyances topped onto this. Now stop bugging me and give me some time to concentrate!"

With that threat that sounded more than serious, Greg went back to rationing out the food with no further distractions from the other two.

"Greg's really taking the food rationing seriously, isn't he?" Billy asked in a low whisper so as to not run the risk of seeing Greg make good on his threat. "I didn't think he'd get so worked up over this."

"I'm actually not surprised he's acting like this," Teddy replied as he took a log from the pile and fed it to the fire before prodding at it again. "One of his cousins is right now fighting a war somewhere overseas. Greg told me that he taught him how to ration food and other small-scale stuff just in case he ended up living through a life-or-death situation like some kind of deadly natural disaster. Just basic survival training and all that jazz. How'd you think he learned to make this fire without burning down the rest of these trees? I didn't think I'd actually see him implement all this, though."

"Heh, so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that he's coming along with us," the raven haired teen stated with a small half-smile. "I doubt either of us could've successfully started a fire without first accidentally burning this whole place down. Did his cousin teach him anything else besides this?"

"Well, he was excited when he was going to learn how to shoot a gun, but his mom quickly put a stop to that when she found out," the blond explained with a small chuckle at the thought. "Not that I blame her since Greg tends to get overexcited when he's holding onto something he thinks is really cool. But it was pretty funny to see him all gloomy when he came to school.

"And speaking about stopping gun lessons, I still don't feel comfortable about having you using a gun," he quickly changed his tone to seriousness as his eyes wandered to the gun resting in the holster on Billy's waist. "I know you already proved you're good with it, but I still don't like it. Perhaps you should let me hold onto it when you're not using it. That way, we can prevent any unfortunate accidents from happening."

"Stop trying to treat me like I'm an irresponsible kid, Teddy. I'm not going to get into any accidents with this. Trust me when I say I'm more than responsible with it in my hands. And besides, how am I going to defend myself if you have the gun and are busy trying to knock some zombie up in the head? I'll be a sitting duck!"

"…I suppose you have a point. That doesn't mean that I'm just going to stop worrying about you. I mean, can you really blame me, your best friend, for feeling like that? I'm already stressing enough with all this without having to wonder how good your handling with that thing really is."

"Then stop wondering and start relaxing," Billy replied as he flashed a smile at Teddy. Despite the chaotic insanity that the day had brought them, this little exchange did wonders for his badly frayed nerves. "Unless I absolutely have to, I'm not going to be aiming the gun anywhere near you or Greg. And I'm not going to be trigger happy and start randomly shooting at whatever pops into my view. Those arcade shooters did teach me to never jump the gun in case they're actually people."

"Oh, why did you have to throw that last part in?" Teddy groaned out as his moment of relaxation quickly went away. "You literally had me believing you for a moment until you brought up the arcade games again."

Instead of continuing on with the discussion, the other simply rolled his eyes and let a chuckle escape him. He knew the blond only had his best interests in mind, but he could sure be a pain about it sometimes.

For the next couple minutes, both settled for just staring into the fire that was now starting to die. Teddy reached for the wood pile and threw another log into the starving flames. The sound of crackling embers soon pierced the relatively silent atmosphere. Greg was still busy sorting out their supplies and murmured out an occasional curse when things supposedly did not turn out what he had in mind.

"…Can I ask you something, Teddy?" the raven haired teen suddenly asked as he kept his gaze at the invigorated flames.

"Sure, ask away," the blond replied as he brought his attention to the other. "What's on your mind?"

"Remember back at the end of lunch at school? Well, you said you had something important you wanted to talk to me and to wait up for you after school. I just remembered about that, and I'm honestly a bit curious as to what's so important you'd actually ask me to meet up with you."

"What are you…? Oh yeah, I remember! It completely slipped my mind. You can't really blame me what with all this creepy zombie business suddenly popping up. I'm amazed you managed to remember that."

"Yeah, I kind of have a mind that goes on random memory digs every now and then. It just popped up to me a few seconds ago. So are you going to tell me what was so important that you couldn't bear to wait even a second after school was over?"

"Umm, I really don't think now is the most appropriate of times to be discussing that," Teddy quickly responded as he felt his cheeks begin to redden. Apparently, whatever he had wanted to say was, to some extent, embarrassing on his part. "I mean, couldn't we at least wait a bit until we're in better circumstances?"

"Do you really think things could get any better than this?" Billy asked as he smirked at the sight of his best friend's suddenly shy demeanor. "Things are right now as calm as they could be considering. Come on, don't leave me hanging. The suspense is kind of killing me here."

"Geez, you never let up when your mind's set on something," the blond replied as he let an amused sigh leave his lips. "I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing. Fine, I'll tell you. Just promise me you won't laugh or do something that'll make it harder for me to say what I have to say."

"I always find it hard to take you seriously when you say that," the raven haired teen teased as he could not help a little giggle slip past. "But yeah, just tell me already! If it's really that embarrassing, then I'll try not to laugh…too much!"

"…I swear; you're doing this on purpose. Good to know your annoying side hasn't suffered much through all this.

"Anyway, here's what I wanted to talk about earlier," he began after taking another deep breath to calm his blush. "It's been five years since we first met. I didn't think that I'd make a friend so soon after starting a new school. Imagine how happy I was when I saw how we considered each other to be best friends right from the start.

"But yeah, I'm kind of starting to get off-topic here. I don't know why I do that when I'm nervous. What I wanted to say was…"

"Alright, I'm done with the rationing!" Greg suddenly exclaimed in a loud tone that was enough to startle the two from their conversation. "God, that took forever! Come over here guys so you can see how well I worked the food system."

"Do you really have to talk that loud, Greg?" Teddy asked with an audible growl reverberating from his throat at having his important conversation interrupted. "We're just a few feet away. What if there are zombies nearby who heard you shouting? They could be coming this way right now!"

"Oh, nothing a good whack to the head can't fix," the teen quickly brushed off as he seemed oblivious to what he did. "Just come over here and see what I did."

"Okay, no need to sound like a kid who just finished his first project by himself," Billy replied with a roll of his eyes. He was clearly disappointed at having his private moment with Teddy so suddenly interrupted like that. He then said to the blond just as they were both getting to their feet, "We'll continue this conversation later."

"If there is a next time," the blond grumbled to himself quietly so the other would not hear. They then made their way to where Greg was still standing with his arms crossed in a triumphant fashion.

"Hey, why are you guys looking so pissed?" Greg asked as he finally took note of their facial expressions. "Don't tell me you're still angry at me shouting like that. I'm telling you, we can take care of whatever zombies decide to come our way."

"We're not pissed," Teddy replied in a tone that clearly said otherwise. "Just hurry up and get to why you're so excited."

"Geez, somebody seems a bit too wound up tonight," the other teased lightly before turning his attention to the three distinct piles of food he had been toiling away for the past few minutes. He failed to notice the dirty look he got from the baseball player. "But yeah, take a look at these piles of food I just set up. They may all look different, but they all got about the same amount of food in them. If we each ate just one thing from the pile for three respective meals, then the food will last for just a little over a week. If we can split the fruit we have into three pieces, then I can stretch that number to two weeks."

For a moment, the other two teens just switched their gazes between Greg and the three different piles of food. It was as if they were in thought about what they just heard and wondering how it was all going to work.

"…You're not serious, are you?" Billy was the first to speak up after a few seconds. "Do you really expect us to just eat just three things from the pile for one day? You're being a bit extreme here. We can't possibly last a whole week by eating so little food!"

"Don't go dissing what I've done, Billy! If you don't like it, then feel free to do whatever you want with your pile of food. Just remember that when you run out of your own food, you're going to have to share with one of us. That'll end up chipping away at the food until we have no more and have to try our luck at finding more. Extreme or not, this is going to be the conditions we're most likely going to have to live with when this all gets worse. Best we start getting used to it now rather than later."

"Still, we can't be in that bad of a situation where we have to ration food like this," the raven haired teen countered as he seemed content to see things Greg's way. "How many people do you think have your kind of mindset with all this? We shouldn't be having problems with food until this all gets worse and people start hording it."

"Like I just said, it'll be best if we start getting used to the rationing idea now," Greg repeated despite having nodded in agreement to Billy's statement. "You're right in that we'll definitely find more food than we can handle right now. However, don't start getting used to that idea. My cousin's a member of the army, and he's told me of times where he had to sneak through enemy territory just to get to their base. He never really had much food because they had to travel light, so he was taught how to ration food in a way that it was stretched thin and barely enough to satisfy hunger. I'm just using what he taught me since I'm sure this constitutes as a dire emergency."

"I feel the same as you on the whole rationing idea, Billy; but I think we'll have to go along with Greg's suggestion," Teddy admitted despite a heavy sigh indicating his distaste leaving his lips. He then continued as he fixed his gaze back at Greg, "And I feel the same as him in that we shouldn't have to be so ration-heavy with what we got. We're not that far from Suffern, and I'm sure we can stock up on more food when we get there. There's no need to be this strict yet. Give me an honest answer here; how long can the food last if we ate three things from our food pile for only two meals?"

"…Not counting trying to break the fruit into pieces, about three-and-a-half days," the teen stated after thinking on it for a moment. "There are twenty-one pieces of food in each pile, and what you're suggesting basically doubles what I've set as a daily cap. But I suppose you guys are right," he added in a begrudging fashion. "With Suffern so close, I guess I am kind of jumping the gun. I mean, the cops did say that the town was the safest if Southfields' shelters became too dangerous. We're just going to have to make sure that we don't take too long getting there. The food is definitely not going to last that long."

"Like you said, we have three days' worth of food if we go with my food suggestion," the blond reminded as he went and threw another chunk of wood into the neglected fire. "I know for sure it'll take less than a day to get there depending on how many zombies are in our way. Of course, we'll worry about that tomorrow. For now, I think it best we start relaxing before getting some sleep. I hope then that this puts an end to our food argument?"

"As if it were even an argument to begin with. But yeah, I guess we don't have to be so strict for now. Just keep in mind that I might suggest we get that serious sometime soon. Like it or not, that's the reality we're going to face soon."

"Alright, enough with the gloomy talk," Billy stated in whining fashion before moving back towards his rock. He then pulled out his iPod and headphones before sitting down and fiddling with the device. "I'm going to listen to a couple of songs before going to sleep. Might as well enjoy it while I can seeing how it's almost out of batteries."

"Then I'll go ahead and keep watch for zombies," Teddy volunteered as he started prodding at the fire again with his long stick. "We can't all go to sleep unless we plan on not waking up for the rest of our lives."

"I guess that makes sense," Greg agreed with a shrug of his shoulders as he gave one last look at the food before taking a seat near the fire. "We're going to need someone keeping watch so we don't end up literally getting our asses eaten."

"Why do I have a feeling that you were trying to make a reference to something of a rather…explicit nature?" the blond asked as he raised an eyebrow at his baseball teammate who merely sent him a secretive smirk. "Anyway, how do you guys feel about switching off every two hours?"

"Huh?" the raven haired teen dumbly asked as he failed to understand the sentence. "You mean you're not going to keep watch all night?"

"…Were you really thinking that, Billy? I need some amount of sleep if I'm going to be more than just some monster's easy meal tomorrow; I just volunteered to be the first person on watch. Once two hours are up, I'll wake one of you guys so you can take over."

"Makes perfect sense when you put it that way," the other simply admitted. "Most people in zombie movies usually die when they get into a false sense of security. And we need someone to tend to the fire so we can have a good view around us at all times. My watch beeps every hour," he added as a soft beeping reached their ears. He then continued on as he brought it to his face, "It's right now midnight. You can go ahead and wake me up when two hours have passed. I'll then wake Billy up and he'll repeat the cycle with you. That way, we'll all get at least four hours of continuous sleep. We should all be up and getting ready to head to Suffern when eight comes rolling by. Is that a fair plan?"

"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Billy answered before putting one of the ear phones into his ear. "Best we take turns so none of us are overly tired tomorrow. So you're going to take over at two, and I'm going to be up at four. Four hours of undisturbed sleep for the most part. As if I'm going to sleep that much after what I saw today," he added with a sort of bitter murmur that Teddy caught onto.

"Hey, try not to think about it," Teddy reassured him as he got up and gave his best friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "That's a surefire way to be off your game tomorrow. God knows how we don't need you lodging a bullet into either of us."

"You're never going to stop teasing me about me with the gun, are you?" the raven haired teen asked rhetorically as he gave a playful pout. "Maybe I should shoot at you if only to get you to stop it."

"As if you'd even think about pulling a stunt like that!" the blond replied with an amused chuckle before locking the other in a light headlock and rubbing at his head.

"…Those two sure are close," Greg murmured to himself as he watched Billy futilely try to escape from Teddy's grip from the other side of the fire. "People might actually mistake them for brothers what with the way they act. I wonder," he added thoughtfully as a thought crossed his mind that caused an impish grin to appear on his face. "The way I've seen them act looks almost like how my girlfriend and I were before we tried our hand at dating. I wonder if they like each other and don't know it yet. Oh, it'll definitely be interesting if they do end up hooking up!"

With a quick chuckle leaving his throat, the teen lied down on the ground and tried to get some sleep, all the while ignoring the admittedly humorous scene that was still taking place with the other two.

* * *

Well, I admit that this is by far the shortest chapter that I've written for this story. But in the scope of things, I don't think you'll really hold it against me for this chapter. After all, this really is more of a relaxation chapter; and they're winding down from the hectic day they just went through.

This was literally just a chapter slapped together with a bunch of random thoughts. I saw Greg being very possessive with what little food they had left and also having him as the group's self-proclaimed zombie expert. I honestly couldn't see anybody else fitting that role except for him, so I guess it's a good thing after all that I decided to keep him in the story. Let's just hope that his food rationing idea doesn't have to kick in for a long while or he'll have a couple of irritable teenagers breathing down his neck.

But yeah, I do hope you like my attempt at keeping the serious tone while trying to bring it up to another level by producing a food problem they're now facing. I know it's probably not a major problem yet, but these things have to progress slowly. Or as slowly as they can get considering this is a zombie story where things sometimes suddenly get into a fast and hectic pace.

So let me leave you with the outtakes now. There's probably not going to be as much as previous chapters seeing as how all these random ideas don't really have much branching points as to how they could alternately play out. Then again, I just might end up surprising myself and come up with some relatively funny bits.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read on this site. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Teddy: Are you still messing around with the food, Greg?

Greg: (Without looking up from work) Shut up, Teddy! Someone's got to make sure the food's evenly distributed amongst us.

Billy: Are we really that low on food?

Greg: It's enough to last us about a week. That low enough for you?_!_

Billy: ...But it's only less than a day to Suffern from here. You sure you still have to do that?

Teddy: You're stressing out over nothing, you know?

Greg: (Momentarily stops working) ... ...Shut up, you two! (Continues on with work)

/

Billy: So what did you want to talk to me about earlier after school, Teddy?

Teddy: (Starts blushing) Uh, I don't now's really a great time to be discussing that.

Billy: (Looking amused) Are you blushing? It can't be all that bad, can it? Just tell me!

Teddy: (Blushes even harder)

Billy: Ted...!

(Teddy roughly brings his lips to Billy's and starts kissing him)

Greg: Alright, done with the food rationing! So how about we... (Sees the two teens now full-on making out) ...Yeah, I so don't need to see this right now. (Goes back to working on the food)

/

Greg: (Observes Teddy and Billy messing around) Those two really are close. I wonder if they're more than just best buddies?

(Starts daydreaming)

Dream Billy: Hey Teddy; want to come over to my place today?

Dream Teddy: Sure, what's the occasion?

Dream Billy: Oh, it's nothing. I just have a little _surprise_ for you! (Winks seductively at Teddy)

Dream Teddy: (Starts to blush) Oh, but didn't we just do it last week?

Dream Billy: (Smiles suggestively) Didn't you say you had other things you wanted to try out?

Dream Teddy: (Now looking excited) That I did! (Follows Billy home like a little lost puppy)

(Back in real world)

Greg: (Smiling impishly) Oh, I can so see that happening!


	10. The Border Town of Suffern

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read after almost a week's worth of waiting. At least these updates are starting to become somewhat fast now. Being that my quarter in college is almost over, the professors have become somewhat lenient in giving out homework. That leaves me with more time to work on these stories. Conversely, this also means that I have to spend time studying for the upcoming finals. So in essence, my time to work on these stories haven't really changed at all. Still, I will work on this as much as I can.

By the way, I also posted a Thanksgiving special in respect to Thanksgiving Day three days ago. It's called "A College-Style Thanksgiving". I admit that it's not a great title, but it's my way of spreading the joy of the holidays. It's based off of the Young Avengers universe, and it's also a short story. So don't expect that story to be as long as some of these chapters here.

Anyway, let me stop ranting here and let you all start reading this new chapter. But first, let me thank all of you who have left reviews for my story, especially to **DimancheOtaku**. They are really helpful in keeping me going and also letting me see how this story is being received by you as readers. After all, I do find it important that a writer must have some connection with his readers.

And as a side note, I've finally read the Young Avengers series, or at least the very first series where they debut in. I've finally got some concrete details as to how our heroes' attitudes really are. It seems like I got Teddy's attitude somewhat correct, the nice guy who won't hesitate to fight to protect who he cares. Just a nice big "Teddy" bear who seems to dote on Billy in terms of safety! :)

Billy seems more, for lack of a better word, hardcore than how I portrayed him here. However, I kind of see my somewhat hesitant Billy as a result of 'what if he never met the Scarlet Witch' scenario. I see that making him still rather shy around people he's not familiar with and not very good with verbal confrontations. Kind of like how what happened back in chapter four in the cafeteria. And I've never seen him as a wimpy person when his life was on the line. Glad I was right on that. That and I really like Wizards. They just have such cool powers and can like control the elements to their liking!

And Greg... Well, let's just say that despite wanting to make a quick buck in the comic, there's a lot of room for maneuvering. I mean, he can't really be thinking of money-making schemes now with the world all zombified. And it's a plus that I learned he's really a canonical character despite such a small role! And to think he really was meant just to be a character of my own design.

I was also surprised as to how some of the other characters really acted, some either stronger or more mellow than I imagined. But I've also done research on the House of M series and noticed that none of the Young Avengers are really highlighted. Maybe I'll make a story with the Young Avengers based on this section of the comics! That way, I won't have to worry too much whether or not they're in character; they're not in House of M to be cross-referenced with! :)

With that aside, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful to me. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Border Town of Suffern**

Despite having suffered through a traumatic day filled with many frights and near-death experiences, the three teens somehow managed to achieve some semblance of a good sleep. As suggested, they traded off with the guard position every two hours with Greg's hourly beeping watch serving as their time guide. However, no zombies had seen it fit to try and take them out all throughout the night. And as was discussed, they had woken up around eight and dug into their respective piles of food that Greg had separated last night before closing the distance between them and Suffern. That and they needed to keep moving to avoid any unnecessary trouble with wandering zombies.

It had been five hours since they continued on with their trek. In that time, they had made their way out of the woods and have been walking down the main road ever since. While the trip by foot normally did not take as long as that, they were forced to take lots of roundabout routes so as to avoid unnecessary standoffs with large groups of zombies in their way. Because of this, they were quite tired and currently taking shelter inside an abandoned gas station store that was situated in the outskirts of Suffern.

"I can't believe this place was just abandoned like this," Greg murmured as he dug into a box of Animal Crackers. Luckily for them, the store was pretty packed with snack foods and juice that allowed for them to reload their stocks and eat a bit more than what he had suggested last night. "Whoever worked here must've figured bailing would be better than hanging around. At least we're pretty safe from the zombies outside. Definitely got to give it that much. And we're lucky enough that there's a lot of food in here to eat from and to add onto our food supplies. That's definitely a plus!"

"Even if it's really all just a bunch of junk food," Billy added with a groan as he opened up his third small bag of pretzels while eyeing the small pile of other snack foods and candy they had compiled and left on the clerk's counter. "Still, I guess we can't complain seeing as how we don't have to worry too much about food now. Here's to hoping that we'll be able to hold onto it this time around."

"And we now have something else to drink besides water," Teddy responded happily as he took a swig from his can of orange soda that was taken from the refrigerator section. "Oh yeah, that's the sweet taste of a good soda! I don't mind water, but this is definitely better. You don't know how I needed something like this to help me relax after having to go through such a hectic day yesterday."

"You always drink soda whenever you get stressed or nervous," the raven haired teen stated in annoyance despite the grin of amusement making its way to his face. He then drank from a box juice before continuing, "It never fails. At least you're not chugging the thing like you do in the minutes before your karate or baseball championships. Those were never pretty sights to watch."

"Nobody ever told you to watch me drinking like that," the blond simply stated as he downed the rest of the can's contents before setting it to the side. "And while we're on the subject about pet peeves, you're one to talk. Having to hear you rant about whatever's on your mind whenever you're stressed or angry isn't something I look forward to. Those are real moments of torture for me."

"Alright, let's not morph this into an argument," the third teen quickly cut in as he stole a quick glance out the clear glass windows. They were sitting just out of sight from outside prying eyes, but Greg was seated in a position that he only needed to shift his body a bit in order to see outside. "You don't want it to get out of hand and accidentally alert some unwanted company here, do you? That's the last thing we need.

"But yeah, I think we've stayed in here long enough," he quickly added before moving towards the counter and grabbing ahold of a plastic bag resting on top. "Our family isn't going to just sit around waiting for us while we're taking shelter in here busy stuffing our faces. If we want any chance at trying to find them here, then we better get a move-on. So you guys better help me take as much as we can before we go. I want to try and keep all the food we've got on us this time around."

Without saying a word, the other two quietly complied as they took off their backpacks and started stuffing them with food and soft drinks. They also packed up some more medicine that they had managed to find, although it was not a lot since it seemed the shop was in low supply. Nevertheless, they took what they could if only to keep from having to suffer Greg's rant about taking whatever they could find.

And much to Billy's surprise, he found another handgun lying behind the clerk's counter when he went over to pick up a few bars of candy he had knocked over. He quickly showed it to Teddy and Greg, one being happy to have another gun in their arsenal while the other not so much so. After checking to see if it was loaded, he took note that it used the same bullets as his current gun before carefully placing it into one of his backpack's secondary compartments. He then continued on with the stocking of food.

In a couple of minutes, they had finished packing everything up and were ready to leave. Greg and Teddy held onto their crowbars tightly while looking out of the glass windows to see if the coast was clear. Billy had taught himself during their trek here how to reload his gun and was checking to see if he was comfortably loaded. He then patted at his pockets to see if he had all his ammo clips that he obtained back at school in the delivery truck. With two guns using the same ammo clip, to lose even one would severely hurt his gun availability.

"Let's go guys!" Greg practically commanded as he exited the store with his weapon at the ready. The others quickly put on their backpacks and followed suit. While they did not want to fall behind, they also wanted to make sure that their unofficial leader did not end up trying something potentially stupid and land in the middle of trouble.

Now back on the road, they made their way deeper into Suffern. Greg had told them earlier during their trek to the gas station that his cousins lived in the Montebello area. He also said that Suffern High School happened to be in the same general direction. In essence, they would be able to check on Greg's family and look for Billy's brother at the high school at the same time. It sounded like they were going to have an easy time achieving what they had come here to do.

Of course, that was not taking into consideration the zombies that they most likely would have to fight through or dodge around. Naturally, they had chosen to avoid fighting altogether both to conserve energy and because of uncomfortable numbers. However, things seemed to be different this time around. They were standing a few yards away from a small group of four monsters upon entering a residential part of town.

"I think we can take on these sons of bitches," Greg stated with a confident grin as he readied his crowbar for a fight. "It's not like there's a whole bunch of them this time. What do you say, Teddy? You think you're up for it?"

"…I guess it's better than just letting them follow us," Teddy replied with a shrug as he tightened the grip on his crowbar. "It's not like we can just hop into these backyards and avoid this. I prefer sticking to places where we can make easy judgment calls. Billy, cover us from here in case one tries to sneak up on us. And don't forget to keep a watch of your surroundings in case more decide to show up."

"Got it!" Billy responded as he cocked his gun and was ready to serve as back-up. "Just make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"As if what we're doing doesn't already constitute as something stupid," the third teen said sarcastically before running towards the zombies. Teddy quickly followed suit and was just in time to strike one of the monsters in the head at the same time as his partner. "Hey, that one was mine!" he exclaimed with a competitive growl escaping his throat. "Go and get your own target, buddy!"

"Geez, sorry," the blond half-heartedly apologized as they both went and took out differing zombies. They both made quick work of them with strong and swift blows to their heads. Teddy then shifted his weapon so that he was holding onto it in backhand fashion in preparation to take down the fourth that had wandered uncomfortably close to him. Without hesitation, he delivered a quick uppercut that took it completely by surprise. After it stumbled backwards a bit from the strike, the blond then swung the same arm away from his body and let the weapon slam into the side of its head.

"That takes care of that," he said with a sigh as he looked over and saw Greg raising his crowbar up in victory. However, that was short-lived as the sound of a bullet rang through the air and forced their attention back to where Billy was.

"What is it?_!_" Greg exclaimed as he saw Billy aiming his gun towards one of the houses. That was when he saw zombies coming out to the streets, more than the three of them could possibly handle. "Oh, for the love of…!"

"Those weren't the only four here, guys!" the raven haired teen exclaimed as he let out another shot well-aimed shot at a zombie head before looking around him and seeing the monsters coming from different houses and backyards. "There's no way we can handle this many by ourselves!"

"This wasn't what I had in mind when I heard this place was safe!" Teddy stated through clenched teeth as he observed the new situation. "Looks like the town's going through the same problem as Southfields!"

"I thought the mayor said that the military had everything under control here!" Billy shouted as he quickly made his way to the other two and kept his gun aimed at the growing horde of zombies. "That's the last time I trusted a politician's words. We better do something before we become a free meal!"

"Come on; we got to get to the Montebello district!" the third teen commanded as he ran in the direction that would lead him further into town. "That's our best bet in finding our family there. That's also where we'll go ahead and plan our next move."

"W-Wait up, Greg!" the blond shouted as he and the raven haired teen followed closely behind their leader. They had no idea where they were going, but they knew anywhere was better than here.

For the next passing minutes, the three kept with their fast pace and dared to look behind them at the growing zombie horde. Even when it looked like they had outran the monsters and was now safe, they still kept on running. Greg kept leading them down streets and the occasional alleyway when the need arose to go around pockets of zombies. He had checked every street sign they passed and made quick judgment calls as to where they should go next. It was not until they reached the corner of Mayer Drive and E. Mayer Drive did they finally stop to catch their breaths.

"This place…was supposed to be safe!" Billy panted as he took a seat on the ground with the streetlamp on his back. "How are zombies…roaming around in here?"

"That's because…there isn't anywhere safe…anymore!" Greg replied as he frantically looked up and down the streets for any signs of more zombies. "It's moments like this where…you can't count on finding a safe place. That's what zombie movies always teach you; nowhere is safe!"

"But the mayor wouldn't have suggested that people head here if he didn't think it was safe!" Teddy explained as he had quickly regained his composure while kneeling and leaning his weight on his crowbar. "That must mean he had contact with the military who told him at the time that they had everything under control here. Maybe this part of town isn't a part of their protection plan."

"That's some pretty wishful thinking on your part, Teddy," the other replied as he took a deep breath and shouldered his crowbar. "But let's just say you were right in that we're not in the right place. Where exactly would the military choose to prioritize? We don't exactly have the time to be wandering around like a couple of lost dogs."

"Maybe we don't have to wander around lost," the raven haired teen quickly suggested as his mind came up with an idea. "How about we head to one of the schools? Right after we left our high school, two cops came by saying that the school was a designated safe zone. Isn't it a good chance that the school's here would also serve as shelters?"

"That sounds like a pretty good idea," the blond agreed with a nod of his head. "Maybe the military here had a better time securing the schools here. That should also mean that Tommy is in good hands," he added as he took note of the look of relieve appear on his best friend's face. "Still, I rather we not stay in this town any longer than we have to. How far is it from here to Suffern High, Greg?"

"From what I remember, it shouldn't be that much farther. It's about ten minutes' walk from here, probably be less than five if you belted it. I can't be too sure since I've only been there twice myself with my cousins. We just need to head east down this road until we hit Mile Road. Then we take a left and keep following the street. It should be in our sights the moment we're on that road. And if you two are right, there should be a bunch of men in army suits surrounding the place.

"But that's going in the opposite direction from where my cousins' house is located," Greg added with a slight growl in his words as he took out his cell phone and started feverishly pressing the numbers. "They live on Henry Court which happens to be in the opposite direction of this street. Knowing my uncle, he'd probably just stand his ground before leaving his house. He's the type of guy who'd fight tooth and nail against anything that threatened him and his house. Guess you could account that for his time as an army man. But it doesn't look like the phones are working right now. Still, I can't waste time going in two opposite directions in case my cousins really are still at their place."

"But what if he was convinced to go somewhere safer? Heading to his house might end up constituting the waste of time you're trying to avoid. Going to Suffern High is the best course of action we can take."

"That's what you say, Teddy; but I know my cousins better than you and Billy combined. I don't care what either of you say; I'm going to their house and check up on them! You two can do whatever you want."

"B-But that's suicide, Greg!" Billy exclaimed as he saw said teen turn around and begin to make his way down the western expansion of E. Mayer Drive. "Going our separate ways should be the last thing on our minds! Wouldn't it be better if we stuck together and kept watch over each other?"

"Not if it means that you two are going to hold me back in searching every possible place for my parents! Look, you know how I feel about my family being here since your brother's also here. You don't see me trying to stop you from trying to find him, so do me a favor and respect my wishes."

"…Then how about we come up with a place where we'll meet up?" Teddy suggested as he got to his feet and shouldered his crowbar. This seemed to stop Greg in his tracks before he moved any further. "Regardless whether or not we find anybody, we need to know where it is we're going to reunite. Since you're so set on us splitting up, we should have a good meet-up plan set up in order to offset the insanity of this."

"… …I guess you have a point there," Greg admitted with a sigh before turning to face the two teens. "How about this? Once you're done checking out the school, head south past the freeway and to the Good Samaritan Hospital. If it's too dangerous to wait in there, then just wait up somewhere nearby. Just keep taking the southern-bound roads until you hit a street called the Nyack Turnpike. Then make a right and the hospital will be right in front of you. Is that a good enough plan for you, Teddy?"

"As good as it'll ever be considering what we're about to do," the blond agreed with a small smile on his face upon hearing his friend willing to go along with their plan. "Just please promise us one thing before you go."

"What is it now, Teddy?" the third teen asked with clear annoyance as he was clearly more than eager to get going on his way. "We don't really have time to keep exchanging ideas and other useless crap."

"Promise us that you won't do anything stupid no matter what you end up finding at your cousins' place," he said with complete seriousness written all over his face, so much so that Greg actually flinched a bit upon seeing it. "Remember that you need to survive no matter what so that we can get out of here the same way we came in, together as a group. If I don't see you at the hospital, then nothing's going to stop me from going out to find you whether you're alive or dead. I'll be damned if I just left you out here on your own without knowing what happened to you!"

"Of course, I'll make sure he'll wait around for at least a few minutes before going on a suicide mission to find you," Billy added as he shot a stern glare at his best friend's statement. He then added in a more somber tone, "And I'll go along with him to make sure he doesn't do anything crazy himself. Like him, I don't want you go die after all we've been through. We came in here together, and we're going to leave together. _With_ _our family!_" he added with extra emphasis on the last sentence.

"Ha, as if I have any intentions on becoming zombie fodder!" Greg simply said with little concern despite his shoulders tensing up a bit at the concern being sent to him. "But yeah, I'll keep that in mind. And if you can, just call me on my cell. I'll make sure to turn it on when I get to my cousins' place. I know Teddy has my number, but that's depending whether or not the cell towers are still being overloaded. Still, it'll be better that you at least try that before just blindly go looking for me.

"If you guys are done demanding things from me, then let me get on my way," he added before turning around and making his way down the street. He shouldered his crowbar and kept moving his head around to see any incoming zombies.

"Do you really think he'll be alright on his own?" the raven haired teen asked as a frown of concern approached his face. "I mean, this is the first time we've split up. The two of us are still together, but Greg's on his own now."

"I'm sure he can handle himself just fine," Teddy responded as he saw Greg's form become smaller before disappearing down another street. He then added in a slightly unsure tone, "At least, I think he'll be fine. I mean, I know he can use that crowbar pretty well, but I don't know if he knows how to fight if he ends up somehow losing his weapon. That's only if it comes to that, of course!"

"In other words, you don't know," the other stated with a small groan at his friend's sudden uncertainty and fidgety behavior. "Isn't this great? We might've just sent him to his death now."

"Oh, I know for sure we didn't do that to him," the blond said as his tone quickly changed to a confident one. "I may not know how well his combat skills are, but I know he's not stupid enough to let himself be caught off-guard by these zombies. Don't you remember how a good portion of the things we've done were based off of his suggestions? He's the zombie movie junkie; it goes to reason that he knows how to deal with this better than the two of us combined. He may be on his own right now, but I know he's far from being your typical zombie victim that he'd just panic himself to death."

"I really hope you're right on that. I know I haven't been around him long enough to be considered his friend, but I don't want him to die because of something we agreed on. I don't think I'll be able to live it down."

"Don't worry; he's not going to allow himself to be taken down by zombies here. Not when he's gotten this far to look for his family. And I'm sure regardless of what he finds at his cousins' place, he'll meet back up with us. After all, I'm sure he sees you as a friend like me and wouldn't want to disappoint us with his idiotic death. He may look and act tough, but he really hates disappointing his friends or family. I just hope he's prepared himself for whatever it is he might find at his cousins' place.

"But yeah, we better hurry and make our way to Suffern high," Teddy quickly changed subjects just as Billy was about to ask about it. "The sooner we can get there, the sooner we can get your brother out of there and meet back at the hospital. Military or not, I don't really trust them to hold out their position long before they run out of supplies. I guess you can thank Greg for making me feel doubtful about how much the military can do. So come on; let's get a move-on and find your brother!"

"…Alright," Billy replied with a sigh as he let the previous subject about Greg go as he followed closely behind Teddy who had begun walking towards the direction of the school. His gun rested firmly in his hand and was ready to down whatever zombie dared to get in their way. "Let's hurry up and get this over with."

He was honestly still curious as to what the blond meant if Greg was prepared to discover whatever he might find at his cousins' house. However, he had a slight suspicion as to what he meant, a thought he apparently did a good job blocking out since it did not immediately occur to him. With a small shudder at the thought, he was hoping that if Greg did find something, it would be the sight of his family alive and not either dead or worse. But like said teen had said earlier, that was some pretty wishful thinking on his part.

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Well, that's it for this new chapter. It looks like the group has decided to go their separate ways if only for a little while. Boy, are things going to get interesting now that Greg's on his own while Teddy and Billy still have each other. Here's to hoping that the loner can survive on his own and that the duo and make way without any expert zombie advice.

But yeah, it also looks like Suffern isn't doing too well. So much for this place supposedly being a nice shelter from the zombies. But they only just entered the town. There's still a possibility that they're simply not in the part of town the military deemed to be secured. Maybe they'll find safety at Suffern High school.

Whatever is going to happen, there's no doubt that trouble is always going to wait for them. However, we'll all have to wait until the next chapter to see exactly what kind of trouble is waiting. Until then, please hold tight while I work on the next chapter while also juggling my school work and studying for my upcoming college finals.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful in keeping me wanting to write this story and thus keep you on your feet as to what's going to happen next. Now I'll leave you with the funny outtakes from this chapter. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Greg: Look at all this food! (Starts gathering food from gas station shelves)

Billy: Uh, but it's all just junk.

Greg: So?

Billy: Is it really going to keep us going long?

Greg: Hey, food's food. Now stop complaining and help look for more stuff.

Teddy: (In a whisper) Something wrong, Billy?

Billy: ...I hate junk food.

Teddy: (Facepalms) Oh, for the love of...!

/

Greg: Oh yeah, we took out those sons of bitches!

Teddy: It was just four zombies, Greg. No need to get all excited.

Greg: Hey, that means four less zombies walking around. That's good!

Billy: Not when there's more coming to avenge those we killed! (Fires gun at approaching zombies)

Greg: Oh, so their friends wants some of the action. (Runs at horde with crowbar ready) Time to kill some more!

Billy: (Stares in disbelief) ...Is he crazy?

Teddy: No, he just...really likes reenacting Grand Theft Auto killing sprees whenever he gets the chance.

Billy: ... ...What?

/

Billy: Are you sure it's okay to let Greg be on his own?

Teddy: (Watches Greg walking away) I'm sure. He can handle himself pretty well.

Billy: But what if he gets surrounded by zombies?

Teddy: No way that's happening. He's too careful about his surroundings.

(Greg suddenly falls to the ground with a yelp as banana peel is seen flying in the air)

Greg: (While struggling to get up) I-I'm okay!

(Teddy and Billy both sweat-drop at the scene)

Billy: You were saying, Teddy?

Teddy: (With small groan) Now I'm worried about him.


	11. Separate Ways A-1: Towards Suffern High

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. This one was fun for me to write, although it was also kind of a pain since this was written in-between me preparing for my college finals. And since we're on that subject, let me say now that there might not be another update to this story for the next couple of weeks. Next week is going to be my college finals, and finals are the most important of college tests apart from the undergraduate exam or whatever it is you need to take to officially graduate. Grades are god in college, and I need god-like grades to get me out of this academic probation I'm in right now.

But yeah, that's enough about me and my school grade woes. Just a heads-up that things might be slow for the next couple of weeks. Anyway, I do hope that you like what I've written in this chapter. I had decided to introduce another character in this one, although his role is quite minor and only meant to help the teens along. I mean, the guys can only do so much themselves without having the need to have a hand guide them from time to time.

And while I have read the entire Young Avengers series now, I'll still stick with the way I have my characters acting. After all, the beginning of a zombie apocalypse can make people act differently. It also provides a challenge for me in that I have to write the characters in a way that it shows them growing. So while Billy right now is acting kind of like a shy wimpish-like teen right now, I want him to grow out of it and become more confident like he is in the comics. Why throw him into that confident role right from the get-go? There wouldn't be much of a story if things were like that, right?

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful in letting me know how you think I did on these chapters and allow me to make minor changes to pet peeves you might have. They also provide me with the motivation to keep me writing the chapters to the stories that you all like to read.

Also, thanks to **MsMorningBird** and **DimancheOtaku** for your reviews of my last chapter. For **DimancheOtaku**, I hope that my explanation just now justifies a bit why I made Billy just slightly wimpier in this story. Then again, I only started out writing this story before ever reading the comics, but I feel it makes a good start for the building of a complex character that grows in the face of disaster. I hope that you like how I'm having him simply grow into that confident person that he acts like in the comics.

And for **MsMorningBird**, I like that you like my outtakes section. This is the first story where I decided to implement this section. I figured it'd be a good way to twist some of the serious scenes to be a bit funnier as a way to unwind from the most likely stressful chapters. And I'm also happy that I've written Greg in a way that you want him to survive. I know in the comics that he was just a guy manipulating Teddy so as to get a quick buck. I never knew this when I first wrote this since I never read the Young Avengers when I first started this, but I had imagined him to be a reformed bully who once picked on Billy in elementary school.

Now I'll go ahead and leave you alone to read this new chapter. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

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**Chapter 11: Separate Ways A-1: To Suffern High**

Following the directions given to them earlier by Greg, the two teens quickly made their way through the barren streets to Suffern High. While they were in somewhat of a rush, they had chosen on a somewhat fast walking pace instead of conducting a full-on sprint. They were still feeling a bit tired from their earlier escape from a sudden zombie horde upon entering a Suffern neighborhood. That and they had yet run into the threat of being surrounded by zombies, so they figured they should conserve what strength they had left for whatever dangers that might stand in their way.

Of course, just because the streets were pretty clear did not mean they had a wonderfully safe stroll without incidents. After all, it was pretty much impossible to not see at least one zombie within a minute of each. The blond simply took care of them with a swift strike to their heads so they would not have to worry about back attacks should they be forced to stop or double-back a bit. Billy took it upon himself to play the role of lookout and watch for any sudden group appearances of monsters. He only used his gun when circumstances became dire. Granted, everything he saw was nothing that Teddy could not handle himself and thus conserved his precious ammo.

"Do you think…things are ever going to get back to normal, Teddy?" Billy suddenly asked as they slowed their pace to a calm walk when they reached Mile Road. The school building was now within their sights along with a few zombies that stood in between them. "I mean, this couldn't be worse than any kind of war we could've been thrown into. Do you think the United States can bounce back from something like this?"

"…I honestly have no idea, Billy," Teddy replied with a sigh that held a depressing edge to it. "You said it yourself when we were in the van yesterday that blogs showed zombies as far as Ohio. Combine with what's happening here in New York, it kind of says that most if not all of the eastern states have been affected by this. That's more damage than a hurricane or tornado tearing through cities! If we can somehow rebound from this, then it'll take a lot of time, money, and cooperation from both politicians and outside sources. Cooperation might be there, but I doubt the country really has that much time or money on their hands."

"…I guess you're right," the raven haired teen agreed before letting out a depressing sigh of his own. "With how the state was doing financially before this, I doubt anything short of going into the past to stop whatever caused all this would be enough. But do you think that the whole world is like this?"

"If that were the case, then we'd probably have heard something about this before seeing it for ourselves. And unless these zombies became smart enough to learn how to pilot a plane or command a ship, this is all most likely isolated here in the United States alone. I'm sure Greg would probably agree with me on that."

"Are you suggesting that we should find a way to escape the States? I guess we could give it a try if we needed to, but you really think that a plane or boat would be operational during all this chaos?"

"That's not what I was trying to say, Billy," the blond corrected as he took a swing at a lone zombie that stood in their way. He then continued on once he saw it was officially down and turned to look at his friend, "In fact, that'd be the last thing I'd recommend us trying to do. What if one person managed to turn into a zombie and started killing everyone onboard? We'd be trapped in a confined area while fighting to survive. With so much panic, a plane could easily crash and kill everyone still alive. And in terms of a ship, we might end up adrift in the middle of the sea where we'll either die from zombies or inevitable starvation. No, staying here on land is our best bet at staying alive for as long as we can."

Unable to come up with a suitable point to counter with, Billy merely nodded his head in understanding to the blonde's explanation. It was not as if he was considering leaving the States himself. He still needed to know if his parents down in Baltimore were alright. Even if he could not possibly reach them, he still wanted to know how they were doing.

"But what if it comes to the point where we really have to consider leaving the States?" he asked as could not get the thought out of his mind. "Unless we manage to find some kind of colony where people have gathered together, we can't possibly live here for the rest of our lives. I mean, Greg said that food is going to be a problem once people start realizing that the military can't handle it. And it'll only be a matter of time before we find ourselves trapped within a horde of zombies. And even if we manage to beat those odds, I can't help but think that the country's already doomed beyond recovery. What if…?"

"Stop it, Billy!" the blond snapped as he turned to face the raven haired teen who looked to be on the verge of tears and used his free hand to grab his shoulder. He then said in a calmer and reassuring tone, "I know you tend to ramble when you're scared or nervous, but it isn't like you to be thinking like that! You have to stop thinking about all the negatives and try to focus on the positives. I know it's hard to do considering what we've been through, but that's all we really can do apart from surviving.

"And what have I told you about thinking those 'what if' thoughts? All they do is make us second-guess ourselves, something we can't afford to do in situations like this. And all it ends up doing is make us lose hope to the point where we might end up shutting down. How do you think I'd feel if you just shut down on me after everything we've been through?" he added as his face fell a bit when he said that.

"T-Teddy…," Billy stuttered as he looked into his best friend's blue eyes and saw an emotion that his words were not conveying. He saw that he was scared for him because of his earlier rant and was concerned about his mental well-being. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry about me. I'll try not to do that again."

"Who said I was worried?" Teddy added in a nonchalant tone, although his eyes easily betrayed his feeling of reassurance. "Let's just concentrate on what we're trying to do right now. That's all we really can do.

"And speaking of doing things, we better pick up the pace," he added as he broke eye contact and once again took the lead towards the high school. "This is hardly the time or place to be having a conversation like this unless we plan on making permanent friends with zombies. Let's just worry about finding Tommy and getting him and us the heck out of this city. I believe Greg when he says that the military shelters are solutions that aren't going to last, so I'm not placing any of our safety in their hands."

Without saying another word, the raven haired teen quickly followed his best friend once more and kept his eyes and ears open for signs of zombies. He knew that the blond was right; he had to stop his mind from wandering to those pesky "what if" thoughts. He needed to keep thinking about positive things so as to avoid making himself shut down and to keep himself together. And right now, he had to keep it together so he could make it to Suffern High School and get Tommy out of there.

Before they were even ten seconds back into their journey, the sound of rapid gunfire was heard echoing and breaking the silence in the streets. Instinctively, the blond turned his attention to his best friend to see if he had fired his gun. The raven haired teen merely had his gun in a relaxed position and simply looked back with confusion on his face. They then heard it again, this time accompanied by a loud shout.

"Th-That sounded like it came in the direction of the school!" Teddy exclaimed as the rapid gunfire continued on much longer than when they first heard it. He then shouted excitedly as he broke out into a run, "Come on, Billy; we've got to hurry! That might be the military trying to defend the place."

"W-Wait up, Teddy!" Billy shouted as he nearly tripped over his own feet trying to not get left behind. The other simply ignored him and kept on running. "I don't think running towards gunfire is the smartest thing to do."

In a manner of seconds, the two had finally arrived at the front gates of Suffern High School. What they saw had, for lack of a better word, shocked them. Both of them were right in assuming that the military had, in fact, went and guarded the school from the horde of zombies. Jeeps with built-in machine guns seemed to line a perimeter along with concrete barricades and piles of sandbags. Vehicles with bullet holes and the occasional large black markings of an explosion could be seen littering the street. It looked like they were well prepared to defend the school against the zombie infestation for as long as they had to.

However, the key word in all this was that they _had_ been well prepared to fight. If they indeed have everything under control at one point, then everything in this case proved to not be enough. Along the outside of the perimeter line were bodies of people dressed in both regular and military clothing. Many of them looked to have been riddled with bullets; all of the military people looked as though they had been bitten. And to make matters even worse, zombies could be seen wandering around just on the other side of the blockade. The scene looked reminiscent of a battlefield where one side failed to protect their base.

As the teens had their eyes glued to the sea of death that lay before them, they had all but forgotten the reason why they rushed here. However, the sharp sounds of rapid gunfire quickly reminded them and had them looking around randomly for the source of it. They soon saw a rather sizable group of zombies on the other side of the barrier seemingly huddled around something. From within that monstrous crowd was a loud shout that sounded guttural as if he had been yelling for a while. More rapid gunfire was heard followed by a couple of zombies falling to the ground with the others taking their place.

"If you really want me, then come and get me!" they heard a man's voice shout over the continuous spray of bullets. It did not look like the person was doing much damage on his own. "So long as I have my machine gun here, you're going to have to work in order to make a meal out of me. Die you sons of bitches from Hell!_!_!"

"W-We got to help him!" the raven haired teen immediately exclaimed as he brought his gun up and shot at the nearest zombie, not caring where it was he ended up hitting it. A couple immediately turned towards the sound of the new bullet and took notice of the teens. "He's not going to last long!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Teddy said as his face changed to a serious expression. He then quickly commanded as he began to hop over the barricade, "You take care of the right while I take the left. Don't cross over to my side until you're either done with yours or see one about to take a chunk out of me. And don't be too busy shooting that you forget to look around you and get attacked by one of them!"

In a couple of seconds, the blond had reached the zombie group and started taking them down with swift yet accurate strikes to their heads. Unfortunately, his appearance quickly earned their attention and was now in uncomfortably close quarters with them. As such, his crowbar was now just a useless hunk of metal. He was forced to rely on his karate moves to push them back before being able to use it to finish them off.

Throughout all this chaos, he somehow managed to stick with the left group of zombies as he had originally planned out. It was not easy considering how his side was littered with the occasional oddly placed sandbag and dead bodies which caused him to have little room for error in his footwork. However, he was forced to work with what he had and kept a cool head during the entire hectic battle.

Occasionally, Teddy saw some zombies falling to the ground after hearing a single shot go off. He really had to hand it to Billy; he really did have the great aim that he had been going on about and proved it in this moment. Most of his shots were actually to the head with only one so far that he had to finish off for him. He even sneaked a quick glance during a moment of calm over to where he was and saw him shoot at one in the head at point-blank range before returning to cover duty. Whatever doubts the blond had before about his best friend being able to both handle a gun and take care of himself had now greatly diminished.

After a terribly drawn-out minute had passed, the teens had managed to take care of the group of zombies together. Whatever were on the floor and still making sounds or movements were quickly taken care of with a swift kick to the head from Teddy. In the meantime, the raven haired teen carefully made his way over the barrier, gun still in his hands, and towards where his best friend was busy making sure all the monsters were dead.

Lying against the back of a military jeep a couple feet away was a man dressed in full military clothing. His clothes were quite bloody; his helmet which had a visor built into it had the telltale signs of blood having been hastily wiped away. His left arm had some bandaging around it with some more of the coppery substance covering it. He had in his hands a machine gun the he seemed more concerned with instead of wanting to know who had just saved him. In fact, he paid the two teens little mind and seemed content to be in his own littler world where the upkeep of his gun was most important.

"Are you okay, sir?" Teddy asked as he put the last zombie out of its misery before turning to look at the man they had just rescued. "We heard you firing your gun and came running as fast as we could."

"Hmm, so it was you kids who got me out of that mess," the man replied passively as he finally acknowledged the two's presence. He then said with a chuckle devoid of any humor, "Doesn't that just beat all? An army man like me being saved by a couple of teenagers wanting to play hero. Can you say ironic?"

"Sorry if we…kind of wounded your pride," Billy half-heartedly apologized, finding it weird that a person so near death would act so relaxed to the point of arrogance after being rescued. "It really looked like you needed help there. I mean no offense, but you didn't quite have things under control."

"And what makes you say that?" he questioned before taking off his helmet and revealing a mess of blond hair with piercing blue eyes staring right at the raven haired teen. It was almost unnerving how they seemed to reflect a sort of strong defiance in them. "What's stopping you from saying that I _did_ have everything under control?"

"Are you okay, sir?" the blond asked with an eyebrow raised at this. "I know what we did was reckless, but like my friend here said, it looked like you needed help."

"…Sorry," the man suddenly apologized as he gave them a half-smile that seemed oddly forced. "It's not like I don't appreciate what you two did for me. It's just that after stressing about keeping everybody safe and making sure those monsters don't get through the barricade, I'm kind of a bit wound up. Imagine how I'm feeling on top of the fact that me and my men failed to protect said barricade. All we did was herd the food into one place."

"What happened here?" the raven haired teen asked as he took a good look at the chaos around him. "I thought the schools were designated as shelters in times like this. With a defense like this set up, how could zombies have gotten past all this?"

"Apparently, a couple of the people who retreated here were already bitten. Things were too hectic; we didn't have time to be searching all of them for zombie-related injuries. I'm not sure if you two are privy to this, but anybody bitten by one of those things will turn into a zombie in time. That's how we ended up losing our defensive line, zombie reinforcements unintentionally popped up in there.

"Naturally, we tried to fight back despite being taken by surprise," the soldier continued on as he unconsciously brought his free hand over his bandaged arm. He also let out a couple of coughs that sounded rather strained and forced before continuing on. "Some of the soldiers shot their way inside to look for survivors. I don't know if they found any, but their either dead or worse by now. None of them answered my calls on the radio when I called for a status update. Hell, nobody within range of my frequency is answering! This means I'm the last military official alive in Suffern!"

"… …Sounds like what happened in our Southfields high school also happened here," Teddy surmised as his mind tried to make sense of what he just heard. "People just don't know that they're good as dead the moment they're bitten. That's the whole reason why we're even out in the open right now."

"So you two are from Southfields. I'm guessing that you came here hoping that things were better than whatever was going on back at your place. Now you know; this place is the same if not worse.

"By the way, how did you guys managed to get here?" he asked as the question seemed to suddenly pop into his mind. "The roads are terribly clogged by cars, and I've heard from my allies that the streets are filled with these monsters. I'll bet that you probably have been on the move for a while."

"Actually, we started making our way here yesterday," the blond explained much to the army man's surprise. "We were still in school in our classrooms when the zombies just suddenly appeared. We were all panicked, but we somehow managed to make our way to the school cafeteria. Needless to say, someone was bitten and forced us to escape from the school itself. Since then, the two of us along with another one of our friends have been making our way here. We heard from officers that things were safer here."

"It was safe for the past couple of weeks until things started to really get out of control. Unfortunately, communications between us and the neighboring towns was poor due to how unorganized our overall defense was. Basically, we couldn't contact anybody outside of our radio's natural frequency about what was going on. In other words, whatever happened here stayed with us until we died."

"And you're saying that we're as good as dead unless we get out of here?" Billy asked as he bit his bottom lip nervously. The man merely nodded his head at this. "But we can't leave yet! I came here so I could find my brother who was supposed to be here for his track competition. I'm not leaving until I find him!"

"Sorry kid, but he might as well be as good as dead," the military man replied with little care of Billy's reaction to his words as he let out another round of coughs. "If he took shelter in this school, then it's most likely he's dead along with everybody else. We've sealed off every entrance to this school save the front gates. I've been here the whole time, and I saw nobody leave this building except for more zombies."

"But what if you're wrong?" the raven haired teen countered as a fire was lit in his words. "You don't know if they're just simply hiding out and waiting to be rescued."

"What do you think some of my men tried to do when they went in guns at the ready? The fact that they haven't radioed back to me for _three days_ signifies that they're dead! If that doesn't tell you that zombies have already taken over the school, then you're just refusing to face to cold hard truth!"

"That's enough, sir!" Teddy sharply cut into the man's harsh words and placed a comforting arm over Billy's shoulders. He looked like he was ready to cry soon. "Just because your men didn't survive the encounter doesn't mean that everybody else in there couldn't. Like Billy said, there's a chance that people are either hiding out or trapped in rooms with no way to escape. One of them might even be his brother. So long as this possibility exists, my friend and I are going in that school whether you like it or not!"

"…Humph, you're really quite the optimistic bunch," the man stated with a light chuckle as another round of coughs left his throat. However, this time around seemed much harsher than before. Once he had calmed down, he said in a slightly raspy tone, "It's admittedly quite refreshing after being surrounded by so much death for so long. Perhaps you are right in saying that there are still people alive in there. What do you hope to accomplish with just you two going in? The last military group to go in had seven people; I don't think I need to remind you again what happened to them."

"Oh, we have our ways of surviving," the blond said as he showed off his crowbar and motioned to the gun that was still in Billy's hands. "My karate skills have me pretty good with using weapons, and my buddy knows how to shoot that gun like an expert marksman. So long as we're together, nothing can stop us."

"Optimism is one thing, but overconfidence can easily lead to your downfall. Still, I doubt that you're going to be swayed out of this insanity of an idea no matter how hard I try." He then said as he brought his machine gun up towards Teddy, "In that case, you should take this with you. It's out of ammo right now, but there are more bullet clips in the jeep behind you. I hope you know how to reload that thing. If not, then ask your friend since he seems to know how to use that handgun pretty well.

"I also have something to give your buddy," he added as Teddy took the gun with some reluctance which allowed his free hands to dig into his pockets. "I've got some spare handgun clips for you to use. I'd give you my handgun, but I handed it to one of the guys that went in. It shouldn't matter since your gun looks like the same make as mine."

"Th-Thanks," Billy thanked as he took the seven clips of ammo and placed them in his belt pouch along with the others. All of a sudden, he found himself not as hard pressed for bullets. "But what are you going to do? Without a gun, you can't defend yourself against the zombies that come by."

"As if it matters to me anymore," the man responded with a bitter chuckle as he patted at his bandaged arm. "This wound pretty much renders any act of self-defense on my part to be completely redundant."

"What are you talking about?" Teddy asked after returning from the jeep with some bullet clips in hand. He had since placed his newly acquired machine gun over his back with the help of the strap attached to the gun. "A simple wound shouldn't be making you feel like protecting yourself isn't worth it. In fact, it should be something that entices you to make sure you don't get hurt again. Wait a minute!" he exclaimed with a sharp intake of air. "Don't tell me that you've been…!"

"I see you understand what I'm getting at here," he replied with a dark chuckle as he practically ripped away the bandaging. What lay underneath was an arm that looked like it had been bitten clean through. A clear view of both bone and connecting muscle could be seen along with the blood now coagulating around it. It was a sight that made Billy turn around with his face quickly turning pale and his stomach beginning to churn uneasily; Teddy only stared back in complete shock. "This is what it looks like if you somehow survive a zombie attacking you. Unfortunately, it might as well be a poison since a bitten person only lives for a few more hours. Why do you think I was surrounded by those monsters when you two came around? I was antagonizing them so they could finish what they started."

"…But isn't that a waste of whatever time you have left to live?" the blond asked as he recovered from his shock and was now fiddling with the strap of his newly acquired gun. "If I were in your shoes, I'd be busy trying to help whoever I could until I keeled over. If I were to die in the next few hours, then I'd do something other than just sit around and get bored waiting for my inevitable doom."

"Why don't you help us search the school for anybody still alive?" Billy suggested as he seemed to have recovered from his immensely sick feeling from seeing the wound. He still looked somewhat pale, but it was definitely an improvement from earlier. "If anything, it should be better than just waiting around for your death to come. That and we definitely could use all the help we can get with this. Like you said earlier, we probably won't be able to do much on our own in a building filled with zombies."

"…I want to pass on your offer, but I admit I was starting to get bored before getting surrounded by those monsters," the man said with a shrug of his shoulders as he finally got to his feet. He then went over to a body of his fallen comrade and took the handgun on the ground along with any bullets he could find on the corpse. "Damn, this is the only gun I see around here, and I don't have time to be picky."

"You want me to give you back the machine gun? I haven't used a gun before, so I'm kind of nervous just holding it."

"Then you best get used to having it on your person at all times. If you're planning on leaving town after finishing this suicide mission, and that's considering if you two survive, then that gun is going to be your best friend apart from your crowbar. I'll teach you what I can about wielding it as we go along. Here's to hoping that you're a fast learner. Now let's hurry up and get this over with while I'm still kicking," he suddenly said with his gun at the ready as he began making his way towards the school entrance.

"W-Wait a minute!" the raven haired teen exclaimed which caused the military man to stop in his tracks. "If you're coming with us, then shouldn't we know you name? I mean, we need to call you something if things get crazy in there."

"I suppose that's a fair enough proposition," the man replied as he turned around and stood at attention like a well-disciplined soldier should. "For the formal introduction, I'm Sergeant Major Rogers, the commanding officer for all the men stationed throughout Suffern. However, I'll allow you to address me as Steve only because formality holds no meaning for me anymore in the face of death."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Teddy responded just as Steve turned back around towards the school. He and Billy quickly followed suit with their weapons at the ready, both prepared for whatever horrors they were going to face inside Suffern High School.

* * *

Well, that's if for this new chapter. And now you know that the new minor character I've introduced here is Steve Rogers, otherwise known to all as the white Captain America. And I say white Captain America since I've heard through Young Avengers that Eli's grandpa is the black Captain America. Again, I'm not well-versed with the entire Avengers universe, so don't kill me for what might be considered redundancies to the rest of you.

Anyway, since he is a minor character for the sake of my story, don't expect too much if any of a character growth on his part. For one part, he's not going to play much of a role. The second reason is because I honestly don't know much about him thanks to my overall lack of the Avengers universe as a whole. However, I will try my best with what little I've learned of him in the Young Avengers.

I apologize in advance if I happen to portray him a lot differently than he should be. Don't forget that I've only read the Young Avengers, and most of what I base him here are from that series alone. Here, I tried to make him to be dedicated to his duty and convicted to whatever he's already had planned in his mind, such as killing himself when already bitten. Of course, I also tried to put in a soft side to him covered up by that tough-like attitude in that he's now following Teddy and Billy into the school so as to protect them with what little time he has left.

But yeah, that's enough ranting about this chapter. Let me go ahead and leave you all alone to read the outtakes. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. As I said earlier, they are always very helpful in seeing if there's anything you feel I need to fix or elaborate as well as provide me with motivation to continue on. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Teddy: We're going to have to consider ways to survive in case worse comes to worst.

Billy: Are you saying that we should leave the States?

Teddy: That's not what I was getting at, Billy. The last thing I want us doing is to be confined to a restricted space where we'd be easy targets for zombies.

Billy: But what if we do have to leave? Do you really think things are going to get better here? If they end up getting worse, then we're sitting in the middle of a literal death trap! We need to consider whether or not leaving here in the future is going to be our best bet at living!

Teddy: Billy... (Immediately gets cut off)

Billy: In fact, we probably should be heading to a different continent once we get Tommy and regroup with Greg. I'm sure Greg would want to get out of here as soon as he can. I mean, if only the States is suffering this, then it should be safer in different countries. Anywhere should be better than staying here.

Teddy: (In annoyed tone) You're rambling like crazy, Billy. Calm down.

(Billy ignores Teddy and continues ranting much to Teddy's chagrin)

/

Teddy: Did you just hear a gunshot, Billy?

Billy: Don't look at me. I didn't do it!

Steve: (From far away) Die, you sons of bitches!_!_!

(Continuous spray of bullets can be heard)

Billy: Sounds like it's coming from the school.

Teddy: Don't you think we should help the guy out? It looks like he's getting surrounded?

Billy: I don't think so. I mean, he's serving as a pretty good distraction for the zombies. This will make it easy for us to get into the school.

Teddy: ...You know, that's a good idea! Let's go with it!

(Both teens quickly enter school as Steve gets mosh-pitted by zombie group)

/

Teddy: Why do you want to just throw your life away like that? (Looks shocked) Wait; did you get bit?

Steve: About time you figured it out. (Rips open bandaging and brandishes zombie bite to the teens) This is what I get for letting my guard down, a one-way ticket to a slow death.

Billy: Oh my god! (Immediately turns around and starts vomiting)

Steve: Oh, come on; it's just a flesh wound. It's not like it's going to kill _you_.

Teddy: (Not giving Billy a second glance) He has a weak stomach. He's not really man enough to see something like that.

Steve: So I gathered. Not exactly army material if he's easily affected by these things.

Teddy: Eh, he covers my back pretty well despite being a coward at heart.

Billy: (In a sickly tone) I'm still here, you know...? (Resumes his vomiting fit)


	12. Separate Ways B-1: Unexpected Results

Hello everybody! Yes, I'm back after having disappeared unsuspectingly for the past month-and-a-half. I know that it's been a while since I've updated this and any of my other stories on this site. I promise you all that I have a very legit reason for my unspoken hiatus. It's not actually a happy reason, but it's completely legitimate nonetheless.

You see, just a couple of day before Christmas came around, I got a letter from my college stating that when the Fall quarter was completed, I was considered to be academically disqualified. Essentially, it meant that I was barred from enrolling in their classes until I managed to bring my grades back up. Long story short, I went into a depression mode for the past month and have since recovered now that I'm working to get better grades.

Now that we've got that unpleasant explanation out of the way, I apologize once more for having the new chapter to this story become terribly delayed. I do hope you can forgive me for that. And as an apology, here's a new chapter for you all to read. And I promise to not go on another hiatus moment unless something like that depression moment randomly comes around again.

So yeah, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful in motivating me to keep writing for you faithful readers as well as provide any suggestions and such that you may have. Suggestions are always good since I'm sure you remember that I don't know much about the Young Avengers universe and might write a couple of things terribly wrong that you sticklers for details might want to lash out at me for. Not that I don't deserve it since I'm writing a fan fiction without knowing anything about the universe beforehand.

And thanks to** Straycat113 **for your review even if it was long after my last update and during my hiatus moment. It's great to hear that you enjoyed this story so much that you had to reread it again. That really shows me that I'm doing something great with this story and that you're thoroughly enjoying my writing. It really makes me happy since I'm working to become an actual writer in real life. Of course, all of you other reviewers are also well-thanked by me for your reviews. I just like to announce the most recent ones whenever I update a story.

Now that I've gotten all that out of the way, I'll let you all read the new chapter you've been waiting very patiently for. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Separate Ways B-1: Unexpected Results  
**

It had only been a few seconds since the three teens had decided to temporarily go their separate ways. Greg was quickly making his way down Mayer Street, the connecting street of E. Mayer Street in the opposite direction that Teddy and Billy were moving. His speed-walking pace did not reflect any sense of caution on the black haired teen's part. However, his actions spoke differently as he effortlessly took out a couple of zombies that dared to come out of hiding and try to make a meal out of him.

"Damn, can't a guy just walk through a street in peace anymore without worrying about becoming a monster's next meal?" he grumbled as he dug the sharp portion of his crowbar into a fallen zombie's head to insure it was dead. "With such a crazy welcoming I've already gotten; I wouldn't think about ducking down in this town even if the military managed to make some kind of defensive front."

After taking out a couple more monsters, he looked down the street behind him and saw the barely visible forms of Billy and Teddy along the horizon. He could barely make out the blond doing all the heavy work while the other simply stood back and pointed at an oncoming zombie.

_Geez, that's almost like a clichéd scene where the girls just point while the men protect their sorry asses,_ Greg thought as he shook his head in amusement. _I hope those two don't find themselves in the middle of a killer horde, especially if Billy's content on trying to point at them to death. Then again, I'm sure they'll find some way to work through it so long as Teddy's boyfriend puts his prodigal gun skills to use. I swear; those two probably work together better than two people in the military!_

With an amused smile approaching his lips, Greg cautiously continued to make his way towards Henry Court. As blunt and uncaring as he often portrayed himself to be, he was in fact a caring guy as well as a good reader of people. This was especially so when it came to his close friends and their relationships. However, he never told anyone about this attentiveness so as to keep in line with his cool and no-nonsense attitude with his peers at school. And naturally, his long-time baseball friend and newfound buddy since yesterday fell under his keen yet silent observations much to their obliviousness and his pleasure.

Over the course of the day they had been working together to escape from Southfields, the black haired teen had noticed quite a few things between Billy and Teddy that seemed to indicate more than just a longtime friendship. The first was the incident in the delivery truck back when they were hiding out in their high school's loading garage. While he did not know too much about Billy's overall attitude, he knew more than enough about Teddy's which coincidentally lent further insight to the others. Both boys had seemed more flustered than normal when he had teased them about how compromising their positions were at the time. He knew that the blond was one who easily became embarrassed over an incident like that; however, he also noticed that it was the first time he ever saw the guy become so defensive over a rather harmless joke.

And then there was the second instance that had occurred last night. It was right after he had finished rationing out the food and called Teddy and Billy over to explain the situation. At the time, he knew that they were talking about something important since he noticed they were practically huddled up together whispering to each other. However, he had a feeling as to what they were trying to discuss when he was soon greeted with two pairs of annoyed glares and a slight tongue lashing from Teddy. The blond only did that when he was interrupted in the middle of something that he considered important, and Greg had a good feeling as to what it was when he saw the other's cheeks just slightly red during the lashing.

With these two things in mind along with what he already knew about Teddy and Billy on an emotional level, Greg had a pretty good idea that the two were head over heels for each other. It was not like he particularly cared about them being gay since he was not one to judge people by their sexual preferences. He did take note, however, that since he interrupted them last night, they most likely still did not know their feelings for each other. He could not help but chuckle at how painfully obvious it was, at least from his point of view, that they were in love and could not admit it without acting like shy little kids. And as much of an impatient guy he admittedly was with such scenes, he could not bring himself to just ruin the scene and possibly his only chance at seeing Teddy struggle heavily over something.

Before the teen could continue on with his line of thought, he heard some strange sounds in the empty street. Ceasing his chuckling and looking around, he soon saw zombies coming out from wrecked and abandoned cars. They also came from through the broken windows of houses and the side gates. In a matter of seconds, the monsters had grown into numbers that the teen could never hope to handle! It was almost as if he had tripped some kind of silent alarm that warned them all of his presence.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Greg growled as he quickly thought about the choices for his next move. "Where the hell are all these guys coming from? I seriously don't have time to be messing around with you all!"

Seeing how things were growing worse by the second, he decided to make a break for the nearby cross street that was thankfully his intended destination. He would be damned if he did not make it to his cousins' house now after having risked his life by stupidly agreeing to split from his friends. However, the street they lived on happened to finish off as a dead-end. While the first part of his plan might go well, trying to rendezvous with Billy and Teddy afterwards might prove to be easier said than done.

Daring a quick glance behind him, Greg noted that he had now put a good distance between him and the now large group of zombies. Unfortunately, he knew that it was going to be gone the moment he reached the end of the street where the house he was looking for was situated. Oh, just his luck to be chased by a growing horde of monsters into a street that had only one way in and out.

"Geez, I never through I'd have to put my life on the line just to visit my cousins!" he grumbled as he reached the end of the street where, to his lack of surprise, more zombies were hanging around. He then whined with a sigh before readying his crowbar, "Do I really have to take out these guys just to get into the house? At least this is much more manageable than the group behind me."

Without giving it a second thought, he ran right towards the crowd that stood between him and his destination. Despite having over ten zombies in his way, they were far apart from one another that they were easy to pick off one at a time. With this as his advantage, he gave each one he approached a well-aimed swing to the head with the sharp end of his weapon. He decided to leave the ones that were further away alone since they were nowhere near the path to his cousins' house. They would only waste time he already did not have to be messing around with the ones in his way.

"Hell yeah, I'm here!" he breathed out once he set foot on a two-story house's porch after taking out another zombie. He then turned around and saw that the street had filled with the monsters during his couple seconds of battle. _That was definitely harder than I thought. I just hope searching this place for them was easier than this. The last thing I need is to be trapped inside like some caged animal!_

Taking only a moment to clear his head, Greg reached for the doorknob and gave it an experimental twist. To his surprise, the door was unlocked and he quickly entered the house after making sure the zombies were nowhere near him. After quickly scoping out the main hallway for any signs of danger, he shut the door behind him and locked it with both the original lock and the installed chain bolt.

_That should hold them back for a little bit,_ he thought as he let out a breath he had been unknowingly holding. _Now I just need to see if anybody's here and find another way to leave this house. I doubt the welcoming committee is going to disperse anytime soon. I just hope I'm not in over my head this time around._

Before the teen could take this chance to take a rest, a strange sound coming from the second floor reached his ears. Gripping his crowbar tighter, Greg turned towards the stairs just a few feet away, quickly checking the living room as he passed it by for any signs of life or danger. Looking up to the second floor railing, he saw nothing that could have made the sound but cautiously made his way up the steps.

_Damn it; where the hell is everybody?! I'm sure my uncle wouldn't have just left the door unlocked like that if he were here. I guess that means he and my cousins aren't in here. But then what the heck was that noise earlier? They don't have a dog or anything. Maybe one of them stayed behind._

With all these thoughts running through his head, the black haired teen cautiously made it to the second floor hallway. The only thing to his left was a bathroom that he could clearly see had nobody in it; however, he figured it was worth a quick look for anything worth its salt. He ended up being glad he went since he found some regular medication sitting on a wall-mounted shelf and stuffed them into his backpack.

Leaving the bathroom and continuing down the hallway, he passed by some rooms which he took care to check for any signs of his cousins or worse. He took no more than thirty seconds checking each room due in part by the sounds of pounding against the outer walls and windows from the zombies outside. In each room he searched, he found neither signs of life nor anything of great use or interest. Each had bits of clothing on the floor with the drawers and closet doors left wide open. The only thing he found that he felt would be useful was an iPod USB cable in his little cousin's room. He remembered that Billy had an iPhone on him and figured it would need a charging if it ever ran out of juice.

With a minute gone and only some medicine and one supposedly useful item tucked away in his backpack, Greg had finished checking all but one of the rooms. He was beginning to wonder if he had simply imagined the noise he heard earlier seeing as how the house was apparently abandoned. He highly doubted that his cousins would have crowded themselves into one room. His army-smart uncle and older soldier cousin knew better than that. Then again, he could not be too sure that they simply did such a thing in a panic until he checked the last room for himself.

Taking a deep breath, the teen placed his hand on the doorknob and gave it a twist. The door creaked open and revealed what appeared to be his aunt and uncle's bedroom. From his position in the doorway, he could see that the drawers were all open much like the other rooms. Pictures he remembered seeing hanging on the walls were gone with only discolored paint showing where they once hung. There were no signs of a group of people hiding in here, so that meant they had all ran away when the trouble started. But if that was the case, then where did they go? They did not leave any hints whatsoever. Perhaps they went to Suffern High and took shelter there…

"Zombie bastards!" a voice suddenly cut through Greg's thoughts as something flew right by his face just as he set foot into the room. By some miracle, it missed hitting him by mere inches and instead struck the wall with a crashing thud. "Go to hell!"

"What the…?_!_" Greg exclaimed as he stumbled back a few steps, his crowbar falling to the wooden floor with a clang as loud as his assailant's weapon.

"You're not getting away that easily, you piece of dead shit!" the person shouted again as he stepped out from his hiding spot and into the doorway. Standing there was a bald-headed African-American with a metal baseball bat at the ready.

"Stop; I'm not a zombie!" the teen quickly shouted just as his attacker was about to go for another strike. "Don't you hear me talking?_!_"

"…G-Greg?_!_" the other person gasped before dropping his attack stance. "Never in a million years did I think I'd see you again!"

"…Eli…!" Greg breathed out heavily once he finally got a good look at his former assailant, a friend he made from his constant visits here looking unusually disheveled. "Oh, thank god it's just you! For a moment, I thought I was about to get screwed over by a zombie that learned how to use weapons."

"Gee, thanks for comparing my survival skills with one of those retarded zombies," Eli responded in a sarcastically playful tone, his face cracking a small smile in the process. "Nice to know you think that I'm prime zombie food. But seriously, you don't know how good it is to see another living person much less a familiar one! I'm telling you, spending a week alone isn't the greatest of things to be doing right now."

"Are you saying that's how long it's been since all hell broke loose? It's nice to finally know now when everything started hitting the fan here in Suffern. Just when did all this shit really started and how far has it spread?"

"I don't know about when it started or how bad it is, but it definitely got bad enough where the military actually had to get involved," the bald teen answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm sure you've already seen how well that idea ended up working. The town's as dead as it could be, regardless whether or not they had enacted the safety plan and made Suffern High as a shelter and base of operations."

"I figured the military here would pull a move like that. But then why aren't you taking shelter in the high school like everybody else? Don't tell me you somehow missed getting the memo about it all this time?

"Do you really think I'm that dense, Greg? I chose not to put my life in the hands of the military who think they got it all under control. I don't know about you, but I've watched a lot of zombie movies. Hanging around in a crowd of living people is just asking to be eaten alive. I figured I'd take my chances out here and live off of what I can find. I never been to the shelter-converted school before and I don't intend to go anytime soon.

"Anyway, that's enough about me. What the hell were you thinking when you thought about coming to this town, Greg? You're honestly the last person I expected to see. I almost knocked you upside the head, you know that?"

Before Greg could provide an answer, the sound of windows breaking on the ground floor reached their ears. Familiarly threatening moaning sounds followed suit a second later along with various cluttering of falling objects.

"Damn it; they're breaking in!" Eli said with a growl as he pulled Greg into the room and picked up the forgotten crowbar before slamming the door shut. "We'll continue this later. Let's just concentrate on trying to find another way out of this house!"

"And how do you suggest we pull that off?" Greg asked as he caught the piece of metal thrown at him. "Unless you know of some secret way out that I'm not aware of, we can't get out of this place from the second floor! And I'm not going to risk breaking my leg jumping out of a window!"

"We'll get out of here through the rooftops," the other explained as he picked up a red backpack from the bed before pushing open the glass balcony doors. "We should be able to get up there through the balcony in here. Once there, we'll find some way to get back onto Mayer Street. I'm sure you remember how that's the only way out of here being that the Mahwah River runs just beyond all these backyards."

"As if I could forget about that damned stretch of water," the raven haired teen replied as he followed the other out onto the balcony. The moaning noises steadily grew louder with each passing second. "I nearly drowned there while playing hide-and-seek eight years ago when my little cousin made me run into a low-hanging branch that knocked me out! But forget about that right now. Mayer Street is right now crawling with these things! And don't think I'm screwing with you on this; I just came from there!"

"What?! But that's the only way out of this dead-end street! Damn it; now how are we going to get out of this? The river's seen an unusual increase in leeches this year, so we can't even think about swimming across."

Just as Eli pinched his nose in frustration, loud pounding could be heard coming from the bedroom door. This along with the disconcerting moaning sounds caused both teens to jump; Greg had jammed his ribs into the balcony door handle because of it and hissed in pain as he leaned against the doorway.

"Screw it; I'll just wing it from here!" the bald teen exclaimed as he secured his backpack before quickly yet cautiously stepping onto the balcony's concrete railing. With his arms stretched upwards, he gripped the edge of the roof and began pulling himself up with hardly any effort. He was safely on top of the house in a matter of seconds. "You better move your ass up here if you're planning on living, Greg!"

Before Greg had the chance to make any kind of response, the bedroom door burst open with the sound of its hinges being ripped from the wall. Looking back into the room, he saw the zombies trying to go through the doorway all at once and tripping amongst themselves in the process. Out of reflex, the teen immediately shut the doors and jammed his crowbar into the handles. This effectively kept the door shut as the zombies approached and futilely tried to open it again and eat the teen.

"Great, there goes my only weapon," he growled as he quickly set foot onto the railing just as zombies began pounding on the glass. Unlike Eli, he had trouble pulling himself up to the roof what with his backpack adding more weight than he was used to doing pull-ups with. With no help from the bald teen, he finally made it safely up just as the sound of breaking glass reached his ears. Still on all fours, he looked back down and saw a few zombies falling over the balcony while others were smart enough to look upwards. Thankfully, they could only moan in want and hunger as the roof was out of their reach.

"What happened to your crowbar?" Eli immediately asked. "I swore I handed it to you before I closed the bedroom door."

"I found a better use for it as being the balcony door's jam when zombies started to flood the room," Greg explained while refraining from commenting about the bluntness. "I wouldn't be up here if I didn't use it to keep them out. I'd probably still have it if the doors instead opened into the bedroom so they couldn't push it open."

"Oh well, best to pick the lesser of two evils when you're put into situations like this," the bald teen said with a sigh as he looked towards the rooftop next door. "We'll worry about finding you another weapon later. For now, let's get as close to Mayer Street as we can. Maybe we'll find an opening to get out of this rotten herd."

Without further explanation, he immediately ran towards the next house. Just as he was about to reach the edge, he made a good jump across the four-foot gap and landed safely on the other roof.

"The hell…?_!_" the black haired teen exclaimed as he followed Eli's path and stopped short of the ledge. "You're going to get to Mayer Street across the roofs? Are you crazy or something, Eli?"

"Not crazy enough to go risking my life by running through that killer crowd. Look, this is the only plan I could come up with on the fly that has the lowest chance of us dying. Unless you have a machine gun or some grenades hidden away in your backpack, stop complaining and follow me."

Unable to come up with a better argument, Greg gave a small shrug before backing up a bit and tightening the straps on his backpack. Readying himself for a jump, he could not help but wonder if this idea of Eli's was going to be any good. Then again, this was better than just sitting around doing nothing like he thought he was going to do. All that was left to worry about was whether or not he would be able to make the jump.

Once he felt he had backed up enough, the teen took a couple of deep breaths before breaking out into a run. In about a couple of seconds, he reached the edge and made a leap for the other roof. He flew across the gap with great ease; unfortunately, that was the only easy part as it seemed he did not take on enough speed and fell short of his landing zone. Instead, he found himself hanging onto the side of the roof for dear life as zombies below him began moaning loudly in anticipation.

"Help!_!_!" Greg immediately shouted as he barely managed to wrap his hands along the edge of the roof. In less than a second, he felt a pair of hands wrap around his wrists before being pulled up to safety.

"How the hell did you manage to miss that jump?" Eli exclaimed as he pulled the other safely onto the roof and put him in a sitting position. "I know you're not that slow of a runner what with you saying you're a part of a baseball team! You're probably being weighed down by your backpack," he added before taking off the backpack and testing its weight. "Geez, just what the heck do you have in here?"

"Just some food, a few boxes of medicine, some bottles of water, and an iPhone USB cable. Oh, I also have a couple of textbooks and binders from school sitting in there," he added in an uncharacteristically sheepish manner. "I kind of forgot to throw them out after managing to get away from Southfields."

"You have both textbooks _and_ binders in here?_!_" the bald teen exclaimed before quickly opening the backpack and pulled out some food and a thick orange textbook. "Why are you travelling with this heavy junk on you? No wonder you fell short with your jump and had a hard time climbing up onto the roof earlier. Get rid of these damned things!" he growled before proceeding with the emptying of said useless items. "It's not like you're going to need them in the long run."

"Hey, stop digging through my stuff!" the baseball player said as he tore the backpack from the other's grip. "I'll go through my things myself. There are some things in there I'd rather keep."

"Just make sure you don't repack those heavy books when you're done. I'm not saving you again if you fail another jump. Honestly; how could you forget about something like that? You almost died because of it, for crying out loud!"

"Alright; I'm getting rid of the things now! Just stop bashing me and give me a couple minutes to sort through it."

With a few choice words murmured under his breath, Eli went to the edge of the roof so as to see how the zombie situation was on the street. Meanwhile, Greg was busying himself with sorting through the papers in his two binders. He had already taken out his textbooks and set them aside for the last time. Most of his papers were just useless junk and unfinished bits of homework, but some of it he found interesting and wanted to keep so as to pass the time should he ever become excruciatingly bored.

_I can't believe I was stupid enough to be tugging along these heavy things with me,_ he berated himself. _I definitely wouldn't have made that jump if Eli wasn't here to help me out. Hell, I'd probably still be trapped in that house if it weren't for his quick thinking. I've so got to learn how to think wildly like him. That'd probably be the only way I'm ever going to survive through this._

_ Still, I wonder how he's going to get us out of this mess,_ he wondered as he looked at Eli who was still surveying the zombies. Their collective moaning seemed to echo in the otherwise quiet streets. _Those things don't sound like they're going to lay off of us anytime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up being trapped here for a long while. I'll be damned if I don't rendezvous at the hospital and Billy and Teddy leave without me. God, I hope they're having an easier time with things on their end than me._

* * *

Well, that's it for this new chapter. As you can all see, I decided to introduce Eli into this story. But more importantly, I also decided to show off Greg's side of the story. I figured it would add a bit of variety by showcasing both group's struggles in trying to locate their respective families in an apocalyptic zombie hell. However, I think Greg has it rougher for now since he actually fought and survived a horde of zombies that chased him through the streets and narrowly managed to trap him inside his cousins' house. Yep, he definitely had it rougher since all Billy and Teddy did last chapter was save an already terminally ill soldier who was bent on wanting to die.

Anyway, I hope that you don't mind me splitting the story into two sections for the time being. If not, then sorry since I'm still going to flow with it. To be honest, I got the idea for this when I was replaying Resident Evil 2. I saw how the story was separated into two characters' point of view yet still held semblance to the entire plot as a whole. While not on the same level with this story, I figured it'd be best to show how both sides fared with their respective missions and their struggles to stay alive.

Also, sorry to you all if I didn't portray Eli like he's supposed to be in the comics. From what I remember reading, he's a pretty kind-hearted guy while maybe just a bit hot-headed whenever things get crazy or stressful. Since this is pretty much an entirely stressful moment just to survive, that's kind of how I portrayed him for this chapter. Sorry again if that's not how he really acts in the heat of the moment or at any other time.

I do hope you liked this new chapter after having you all wait for over two months for an update. Once again, I'm sorry for making you all wait. Now I'll just leave you with the outtakes. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Greg: I wonder when Billy and Teddy are finally going to admit that they love each other?

Imaginary Teddy: Billy, there's something I want to tell you.

Imaginary Billy: What is it, Greg?

Imaginary Teddy: I love you.

Imaginary Billy: I love you, too.

(Starts kissing and feeling each other up)

Greg: ...Yeah, that kind of stuff only happens in those terribly made romance movies. They can't even get past the talking stage.

(Imagines Billy and Teddy tearing clothes off)

Greg: (Smiles impishly) But seriously, when am I going to get to see some kissing action from them?

/

Greg: If Teddy were with me, I'd bet him a dollar that a zombie will pop up in the next minute.

(Zombie pops up second later)

Greg: (Sigh) I called it. Ten bucks that there's more hiding out.

(No zombies appear)

Greg: ... ...Ollie ollie, oxen free!_!_!

(Zombies pour out from houses)

Greg: (Readies crowbar) That's better! Time for a zombie showdown Left 4 Dead style!

/

Greg: I swore I heard a noise coming upstairs.

(Hears more noise coming from room furthest in hallway)

Greg: (Readies crowbar) I knew I heard something. Time to see who or what's in here.

(Arrives at room and gingerly opens door)

Greg: (Pops head in) _Doesn't look like anybody's in here._

(Gets hit in head and falls unconscious)

Eli: Oh yeah; got you, you damn no good excuse for a zombie! And you thought you could fool me by pretending to be Greg!

(Smashes Greg's head in before "escaping" house)

/

Eli: Time to jump over the rooftops! (Runs and jumps to next door roof)

Greg: That's your plan for getting out of here?

Eli: You got a better idea than this that doesn't involve contact with the zombies?

Greg: ...I guess you got a point there.

(Backs up a few steps before running and jumping)

Greg: (Misses and hanging onto ledge) Damn; help me, Eli!

Eli: Screw you, buddy! You're slowing me down with that! (Continues with roof jumping and escape)

Greg: Eli! Get back here, you son of a...! (Loses grip and falls below to awaiting zombies)


	13. Separate Ways A-2: High School of Death

Hello everybody! Yes, this is one of my speedy updates that seem so rare these days. Oh well, can't do much about that since I do have to worry more about school than these updates. Still, it is nice to have more chapters done and make progress into these stories. That and I can always use all the practice I can get it I plan on becoming a professional writer.

But yeah, I honestly don't really have much to say for this particular author's note. That and it's literally like three in the morning for me, so I'm like not in the greatest of shapes to be writing these things. Still, it's good to let you all know a bit about what's going on with me. Makes me seem more connectable to you all instead of just being a person who spits out stories and only expects you to just read without having at least a small connection with the author.

However, I do have to say that I decided to bring one of my old stories back from the dead. It's called "A Dead Hedgehog's New Tricks" if any of you are interested in reading it. I know, the title is not something to go crazy for. You'd think that I'd be able to come up with something better after having put it in the back burner for the past year. Still, I would like it if you read it. It's based off of a game called "Ghost Tricks", so it might be somewhat familiar to those of you who played it before.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'll let you all go ahead and read this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review before you leave, whether it's to point out any mistakes or just to make suggestions that you happen to have in mind. Until the next update to this and any of my other stories on here everybody!

* * *

**Chapter 13: Separate Ways A-2: High School of Death  
**

"I hope you two are prepared for what's to come," Steve stated as he stopped short of the doorway leading into Suffern High. He had leaned against one side of the entrance while the two teens covered the other side. "If seven trained military men went in to rescue the survivors and died trying, I doubt that the three of us would fare much better much less find a living person in this mess of zombies. In fact, we might be lucky enough to escape with our lives intact if we have to make a run for it. Do you really want to play that dangerously?"

"Well, I think it's better than just doing nothing," Teddy simply responded as he gripped his crowbar tightly, the gun given to him by Steve resting comfortably underneath his backpack. He was still pretty nervous just carrying such a large weapon without knowing the first thing about using it, but he knew he would have to quickly get used to it. "Besides, it might be less dangerous in there now. I mean, no zombies came out the whole time we've been here talking. They probably don't get excited unless somebody's nearby."

"I think that's going to change the moment we're inside start running into them at every corner," Billy replied as he let out a sigh of worry. "That's probably when they'll get all excited and want a piece of us. Knowing our luck so far, we'd probably get swamped and start running like idiots again."

"The difference between yesterday and today is that we now know how to handle them," the blond explained, understanding clearly what his buddy was referring to. "So long as we don't walk into dead-end rooms filled with potentially mindless murderers, we should be fine. Now stop trying to find some excuse to get out of this, you two. We've already agreed on this, so let's just get it over with."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" the soldier suddenly said as he pulled out a tubular metal object from his belt pouch and tossed one to the raven haired teen who almost missed because of the sudden move. "You're probably going to want to put this on your gun. It's a silencer. Just screw it onto the gun's nozzle and it'll dampen the sound of a gunshot. I don't know if you two know this, but these things are apparently drawn in to any noise they hear. They're like a bunch of wild animals; they'll make their way to where the sound came from and attack if it's their prey of choice. Using this should make it easier to keep our cover and avoid from being surrounded once we're inside."

"You're not serious, are you?" Billy asked as he installed the silencer through Steve's simple instructions. "Great, now we have to go sneaking around like a couple of spies in enemy territory and be careful not to attract their attention. Oh, I hope Tommy at least caught up to that fact if he's moving around rather than hiding in one place. Knowing him, he'll never stay still even when facing something like this."

"I guess that's another reason to hurry up and get him out of here," Teddy explained with an encouraging smile. "He does have that annoying habit of not staying in one place for long. At least we managed to learn something new about how to survive these zombies. It'll definitely make it easier to survive once we're back out on the road."

"I guess you're right. The more we figure out about these monsters, the better off we'll be able to handle seemingly bad and crazy situations. Let's just hope we don't have to practice what we've learned in here."

With a quiet huff of amusement at how the teens seemed to supplement each other well, Steve allowed the two to have their moment. After that, he motioned for the two to wait before taking another silencer from a fellow soldier's handgun and installing it. Once that was done, he immediately walked through the door with his gun at the ready. Seeing nothing threatening, he waved the other two in before leading the way into the school.

Once inside, the teens saw just how chaotic things got in the school when zombies infiltrated the perimeter. Even though it was still the early afternoon, the hallway was somewhat dark with the lights turned off. What little windows that were scattered in between the rows of lockers were stained by dried blood that were either splattered on or imprinted by bloodied hands. The bodies it once came from were lying just below the morbid art, many with faces frozen in horror as their innards laid bare for the world to see. Most had been eaten clean to the bone; others seemed to have been well preserved only because of an existing body or two keeping them from zombie hands.

"Oh geez…!" Billy silently exclaimed just as a harsh stench reached his nostrils. He had not noticed earlier because of the shock, but the stench of death permeating in the hallway was beyond intense. Even if Steve was not there to tell them about the zombie trouble, the teen would have clearly notice that this all had to have happened a few days ago for such a smell to exist! Even Teddy was having trouble breathing as his breath was repeatedly coming in small gags. Steve seemed to be the only one not remotely fazed by the putrid scent, although he did seem to be breathing at a much slower pace.

"Best to get used to it now while you can boys," Steve quietly said, clearly not fazed by the amazing stench and trekking onward. "If you want to survive out in the wild once you're done here, then you're going to have to enter buildings filled with death and smelling just as bad as this. That's probably the only way you're going to find supplies unless you meet and raid off of passing survivors."

"God, why couldn't they have made this into an outdoor hallway like the ones in our school?" the raven haired teen complained as held onto his friend's arm for support as the smell was making him feel faint. His gun-arm was hanging loosely at his side yet still at the ready for any oncoming danger. "If this is how it smells in those places where medical examiners work, then I have a newfound respect for them. I don't know how they can stand being in the same room as a decaying corpse for so long!"

"They use a kind of scented cream underneath their noses which masks the odor," the man explained as they reached a connecting hallway. He then said after making sure the new area was safe, "I used to work as a coroner for the Brooklyn Police Department before I became a part of the military, so I know about these things. Believe me when I say it wasn't the most pleasant of jobs to be working in. Never thought in my wildest dreams I'd actually see things that are worse than examining dead people, though."

"Let's just try to get this over with quickly," Teddy managed to choke out in breaths too small to be considered for long-term sustainment of consciousness. "I've never fainted before, but I think I'm getting close to it right now."

"Seriously, you two need to grow some more backbone if you're already complaining about something hardly worth worrying over. You'll have a hard time making it through this catastrophe if you don't harden yourself up. Anyway," he quickly added as he pointed to a nearby door marked "Nurse's Office", "perhaps we should check that room first. Maybe the person you're looking for is taking shelter there."

With only a shrug of his shoulders, the blond teen quickly made his way towards said door, his hand drifting over the handle and ready to twist open. Billy was still somewhat unsteady on his feet but managed to ready himself for a potential showdown. The soldier was also ready as he stood guard over the area to make sure they did not get back-attacked. Seeing this, the baseball player opened the door and immediately stepped out of the way so that his buddy would have a clear shot at whatever might come bursting out.

"…I don't see anything," the raven haired teen softly relayed before poking his head into the room to confirm its emptiness. All he saw was a tabletop cluttered with typical school nurse materials and various bandages and gauze scattered along the floor. There were also some spots of blood along the floor, but there was nobody inside to claim responsibility for it. "Somebody _was_ here before, but they left some time ago. It looks like there isn't going to be any dead bodies stinking up the place. That's kind of a good sign, don't you think?"

"Don't start getting too comfortable just because you found a place that zombies have yet to claim as their own," Steve reminded as he managed to muffle another bout of coughing. "You never know when things can take a turn for the worse."

"Trust me; I think Billy and I already went through a 'turn for the worse' scenario," Teddy explained as he entered the room and surveyed the area himself. "We thought that we were safe when we took shelter in our high school cafeteria yesterday, but it ended up that a bitten student managed to come in and started causing another mass panic. Anyway, let me see if there's anything useful we can take along. And maybe we'll be able to find something that'll help you take care of that cough."

"Don't bother trying to help me with this; it'll merely progress from this simple cough to a debilitating fever later," the man simply brushed off as he stood just outside the doorway. "I've seen the effects this has on a person regardless of how healthy they are. No amount of medication will be able to slow down the transformation process. It doesn't even delay it; it just makes the direct symptoms more bearable."

"But don't you think it'll than just having to suffer in pain the whole time?" Billy asked as he helped the blond take whatever medicinal supplies they could find. "Just because you're dying doesn't mean you can't try to be more comfortable. And since you're here helping us out, it'll definitely make it easier for you to fight."

"…I guess you do kind of bring up a good point there. Heh, I can't believe a teenager is actually giving me a good talking-to about my well-being. Just don't take too long trying to find and take everything you think you can use. If one of those zombies finds us, then they always manage to bring the entire gang on our asses. It'll be hell to search for whoever you're looking for if that happens."

With that warning in mind, the teens quickened their search of the Nurse's Office. The last thing they wanted was to be trapped in the room with only the window serving as their way out. Being discovered now would most likely get every zombie in the school to start moving around. The hallways would most likely become insanely crowded with the dead, and that will make it harder if not impossible for them to find Tommy considering if he was still somewhere in the building to begin with.

In less than a minute, they were able to stock up on a good amount of first aid supplies including gauze, sling wraps, and anti-bacterial cream. The added bulk thankfully did not bring about any extra weight, so they did not have to worry about being slowed down because of their backpacks. They also took a couple plastic bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide in case they had minor wounds that needed to be cleaned.

Not to their surprise, most of the medication in the office was mainly prescriptions made out to specific students. That was to be expected since this was a high school. Most medicines apart from what certain students needed to take were not allowed on campus. Oddly enough, they still managed to find and take two near-full bottles of pills inside the nurse's desk, one of them being Tylenol and the other simple immune boosters. There was also a bag of cough drops that had only a quarter of its contents left for the taking.

"I wonder if the nurse here was a bit of a health freak," Teddy wondered out loud as he packed away their latest findings. "They were like prepared to reduce the risk of getting sick and to take care of coughs and headaches when they come."

"You guys better start wrapping things up in there!" Steve hissed just as a barely audible sound was heard. In the next moment, the sound of something heavy falling to the floor reached the teens' ears. "I just took out a roaming zombie, but I don't want to stick around and see if it had some friends following it."

"Geez, you weren't kidding when you said the silencer dulls the sound of a gunshot," Billy replied as he put on his backpack and exited the office with the other close behind. As the man had just said, a new body was now lying a good few yards away from them. "Where should we be looking next?"

"If there really is someone left alive here, then they could be anywhere," the soldier deadpanned while leading them through the hallways, being careful to look out for danger when approaching a corner. "However, I suppose we can go search the gymnasium first. There's plenty of food and water in there from our relief efforts to tie people over for a while, so that'll be our best place to find anybody."

"You're going to take us all the way to the gymnasium?" the blond teen repeated with an uncharacteristic groan. "Do we really have to start off our search from there? I've been to this school's gym before for a martial arts competition, and I remember it being located somewhere outside towards the _back end_ of the school! If we're going to travel all the way there, then I don't think we'll be able to avoid running into a couple of zombies. I hope you have a quick way for us to get there. I don't think we'll have time to kill everything in sight nor can we risk ignoring them in case they get more of them on us."

"And that's why I had my and your buddy's guns equipped with silencers. You just saw how I managed to take out a zombie quietly and from a distance. We can just do the same thing if we run into more. You just make sure you don't hit the wall with your crowbar lest you want to ring the dinner bell. And don't even think about using that automatic rifle unless we manage to get ourselves into a desperate situation."

"Uh, I think it's time we made good on that plan," the raven haired teen stated as he raised his gun and shot it at a zombie he saw at the end of the next hallway. Unfortunately, it landed in a way that it fell against an abandoned mop container. This in turn caused a sharp cluttering sound to echo throughout the abandoned hallway, making the three of them wince at the cursed noise.

"So much for hoping we could sneak through quietly," Steve growled before starting to shoot a few zombies. "Come on; get a move-on, you two! When the rest of them start coming, it's going to be hell just to move around!"

Just as he said that, more zombies started flooding into the hallways out from the open classrooms. Teddy barely managed to knock a zombie coming out of a nearby room in the head as it almost had its hands on the unsuspecting soldier. The two with the guns were taking down those that stood in their way as they began blocking the hallway, but it proved futile as more were popping up than they were taking down.

By some miracle, the group managed to make their way towards the end of the hallway with barely any room and more zombies joining in on the chaos. It took almost two torturously long minutes, but they finally made it to the doors leading to the outdoor hallways. With a few more well aimed shots and strikes, they burst through the doors and were finally free from the suffocating killer crowd.

"Quick, shut those doors!" the soldier exclaimed as he turned around and shot at those that were about to come out with them.

Without hesitation, Billy and Teddy each took a door and began closing them. However, they had a hard time doing so since some zombies managed to jam it with their arms. Out of desperation, the blond teen kicked some of the arms which caused some of them to fall to the floor. The raven haired teen managed to blindly shoot some of the monsters which caused a few more arms to retreat back into the hallway. Soon enough, the doors were finally clear enough to close all the way. For added measure, the blond used his crowbar and jammed it into the door handles to prevent them from opening again.

"Whew, that was too close!" Billy said with a deep sigh as continuous pounding could be heard from the doors. "You weren't kidding when you said they were attracted to sounds. They all just came out of nowhere and started surrounding us!"

"That's why I gave you the silencer before we came in," Steve responded before another bout of coughs came around. This time, it sounded a lot more strained. In fact, it took him about ten seconds before he managed to calm down.

"…You're getting worse," Teddy murmured with a frown as he noticed the soldier's eyes shimmering a bit from the pain. He then suggested as he quickly dug into his friend's backpack, "We found some cough drops in the Nurse's Office. It should at least help make your cough less painful to deal with. And if it makes any difference, you can take some of the Tylenol we found to make the pain easier to deal with."

"I think I'll pass on the cough drops," the man hoarsely replied before taking the pain killers and popped a couple pills into his mouth. He then said after tossing the bottle back and quickly reloading his gun, "Come on; let's keep moving. It's not smart to be staying in one place out in the open for too long. The gymnasium shouldn't be more than three minutes' worth of walking from here. Depending on how things work out, we can take a break and decide on our next move if who you're looking for isn't there."

"Well, I hope what we do after that doesn't have us going back into the school hallways again," the raven haired teen said as he checked the bullets in his gun. "If Tommy is somewhere in this school but isn't in the gym, I'm going to kill him myself for having turned this into a deadly game of hide-and-seek!"

"That's considering if you can catch up to the track field star first," the blond added jokingly in an attempt to lighten the mood. It did not seem to work as Steve continued to lead the way to the gymnasium with Billy following close behind. "Come on; don't be like that. I was just trying to kill the tension."

Before he could continue trying to defend himself from the silent treatment, the outdoor silence was abruptly disrupted with the sound of doors bursting open. Looking around, the three saw more zombies pouring out from various doors other than the one they managed to close and lock. Apparently, the previous fiasco from inside the hallway caused a ripple throughout the entire school that effectively riled up all the zombies.

"Damn, these things just don't know when to give up!" Steve growled before breaking into a full-on run. "Keep up with me, you two!"

With a groan of disappointment, both teens ran as fast as they could to keep up with the slightly faster soldier. Whatever zombies that happened to be in their line of vision were thankfully too far away to pose any kind of problem. Apart from the horde that was no doubt following them, it was a rather danger-free trek to the gym. However, that thought did little to appease their apprehension at the worsening situation.

Because they were running, the three were able to make it to the front doors of the gym in about a minute. They had made good distance between the monsters, but they quickly entered through the open doors in hopes that they did not see where they were hiding. This time without any trouble, the teens closed the door while the soldier took a quick look of the area for any signs of danger.

"…Hmm, it looks like this place is secure for the most part," the man concluded after seeing and hearing nothing. "That's a nice change from all this survival rush."

After locking the door with its own locking mechanism, Billy and Teddy turned around and finally took a good look at the gym interior. Some of the bleachers had been pulled out but were devoid of any people. Blankets and clothing among other things littered the bleachers while boxes and crates were stacked on top of and around tables set up in the middle of the gym. It was clear that this place was set up to be an area to receive disaster relief, but it had clearly been abandoned when the zombies took over from the inside out.

"According to what I heard a week ago when this school was still safe, the zombie attack didn't happen here in the gym. If that's right, then there shouldn't be any reason for them to be here unless those that got bit came back and turned. Don't let your guard down until we know for sure this building is safe."

"But wouldn't anybody who survived the attack and came here for shelter have already cleared them out?" Teddy wondered as he peeked inside a nearby box. "I doubt they'd just seem content to hide out in a place alongside a trapped zombie."

"You'd be right in assuming so," a woman's voice suddenly cut through the quiet gymnasium. Startled, all three started looking around for the source of the mysterious voice.

"Wh-who's there?_!_" Billy called out as he kept his gun at the ready for any unexpected surprises. He then asked in totally random fashion, "Are you a survivor or someone who preys on unsuspecting people and takes their things?"

"Humph, that's quite an imagination you got there," the woman answered in a rather amused tone. "Luckily for you, I'm just a regular girl trying to survive this insane zombie apocalypse."

"Where are you?" the blond teen asked as he brought his assault rifle to his hands without thinking. "If you really are just a survivor, then stop talking to us from your hiding place. Show yourself!"

"…You really don't recognize my voice, Teddy?" she asked, taking the blond aback when she mentioned his name. "Well, I guess it can't be helped what with all this making everyone run on only survival mode."

Once that statement was made, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the three from somewhere above. As she stood straight up, they could see that she had long black hair that was unrestrained by any bands or clips. She was dressed in a simple shirt and black jeans, but she also had what appeared to be a bow in one hand and a quiver full of arrows situated on her back. Also placed against her side was what looked a lot like the hilt of a sword, but the rest of it was covered by her slim yet fit body.

"No way…!" Teddy whispered as he took a good look at the woman in front of them. Billy was still on high alert mode with his gun pointed at her while Steve just settled with staring at the newcomer before him. "Is that you, Hawkeye?"

* * *

Well, even I have to admit that the ending for this chapter wasn't what I expected. Believe me when I say that I'm pretty surprised at how this just made a spontaneous change. I never intended for Kate to make her appearance into this story so soon, but I also never intended for the three to be chased by the zombies so soon either. It just happened to become workable with the situation everybody was in and spilled out of my mind before I even had a chance to know what I was writing. Then again, I guess constantly listening to a video game theme called "Rosalia's Petals" really put me in the mood to write a bit darker than I had intended for this chapter. I swear; it really fits for certain zombie situations like this.

But yeah, now our friends have found another friendly and potentially helpful face. However, we still have yet to find Tommy yet. I wonder if he's even here to begin with. Then again, Kate was taking shelter here, so there's no reason that impatient guy isn't here as well.

And yes, Steve's condition is slowly getting worse for any of you who are wondering. Just like it was in the comic book series, he will die at some point. Note that I only heard that happening from one of my friends who happens to be a big fan of the Avengers series, so that's how I originally came up with the concept that he will have his heroic last deed before succumbing to his injuries. Kind of poetic in a sad sort of way, don't you think?

Anyway, that's enough of my rants. Like I said at the top of this story, it's three in the morning for me. Yes, I type these notes as they come along and within minutes of each other. So now I'm going to leave you with the outtakes and get some much needed sleep. Thankfully for me, I don't have school on Fridays.

Don't forget to leave a review before you run away and read the next story that piques your interests. Until the next update to this and any of my other stories on here everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Steve: Here Billy. (Throws silencer to him) It'll dull down the sound of your shots.

Billy: Alright; thanks! (Starts installing enhancement) Now let me see how well this works.

Teddy: Just don't test it out on us and you'll be fine.

(Tests silenced gun out on nearby jeep; accidentally hits engine and causes it to explode)

Steve: The hell you do that for?_!_ (Angrily snatches gun from Billy) You just blew our position!

Billy: I didn't mean to hit the engine! And how was I supposed to know it was going to blow up with one shot?

Teddy: (Sighs while facepalming) I wonder if Greg knows how lucky he is to not have to deal with this...

/

Teddy: God, it stinks in here! (Covers nose)

Billy: ...(Covers nose while looking pale)

Steve: Come on; it isn't that bad.

Teddy: We're not soldiers like you.

Steve: I've smelled worse in a coroner's office.

Teddy: As if that's the truth! What do you think, Billy?

Billy: ... ... ...

Teddy: Billy? (Pokes said teen)

(Billy falls over and faints from smell)

/

Billy: Oh, we're finally out of that hallway of doom! (Falls to ground and starts kissing it)

Steve: ...What the hell is he doing?

Teddy: ...I think he's finally lost it.

Billy: Oh, thank god we survived that ambush! (Continues kissing ground)

Steve: ...How about we just leave him for the zombies to take care?

Teddy: You know, I was just about to suggest that myself.

(Both leave as Billy continues to happily kiss the ground)

/

Steve: Well, we finally made it to the gymnasium.

Billy: (Looks around room) Seems pretty quiet. Are you sure anybody's in here?

Kate: Do I count as a somebody?

Teddy: (Looks around frantically) Who's there?_!_

(Kate jumps from somewhere above and breaks leg on landing)

Kate: OOWWWW!_!_!_!_!_!_! (Starts crying in pain on the floor) Someone take me to the hospital!_!_!

(All three just look at Kate with a "what-the-heck" look on their faces)

Kate: (Continues crying) Don't just stand there! Help me!_!_!

Billy, Teddy, and Steve: ...I don't think so. (Turns around and exits the gym)


	14. Separate Ways B-2: Better Understanding

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. Sorry that it's taken me a little over a month to update this story. My vacation from college was anything but that. I was called in to work a lot which then drained a lot of my free time. As such, I had no time to really work on this. But now I have a little bit of time, and it's enough to get this posted for you all to read. Yay for me!

On a better note, school will be starting back up for me next week. As such, that means my stories might coming by a bit slower again. Sorry in advance if that happens. Still, I'm sure you all know how important college is. So much to do for classes in three weeks worth of time. Hardly seems practical, but the real world is always full of professions where you have to rush things. Kind of makes you wonder why we live in such a fast paced society? Kind of makes things inconvenient, don't you think?

Of course, the people have pretty much made things so complicated that we have to go to college and learn as much of it as we can if we hope to keep up. I still say that high school doesn't do a very good job preparing us for college. I'm sure I've said this before, but high school keeps a constant relaxed pace with work even during senior year. They should start introducing a hastened pace if they plan on preparing us for college. Seriously, the three-month period to learn everything for one class took me off guard when I started three years ago. That was definitely not a good way to start off my college.

Anyway, that's enough with my rants. I really don't think any of you are even interested in this much less read my author's notes. Still, it feels nice to write it down. It really makes me feel like I'm connecting with the readers rather than just shoving new chapters down your throats. Some connection with the readers is better than none at all, right?

So yeah, I'll just shut up now and leave you all to read this new chapter. That and I should probably get to bed since it's like three-thirty in the morning over here where I'm at. Seriously, this late at night seems to be the only time I have to write my stories these days.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful to me in dictating how I can make my writing better. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

And just as a side note, I am currently making my own story with my own characters. It's a book I'm hoping to finish and publish in the near future. I posted the first chapter on fiction press in order to see what the readers think about it. If you want to see what it's about, just head over to fiction press. My account on there is the same as this but with a 1 added at the end of it. It's titled , Miles, if you're interested. Thanks again for taking interest in my writing. See you all in the near future!

* * *

**Chapter 14: Separate Ways B-2: A Better Understanding**

"…Any idea how long we've been stuck up here, Eli?" Greg asked in a bored tone while picking at some gravel stuck in the grooves of his shoes. The two teens had been stuck on the house roof for a while now and were quickly growing bored with their situation. Clearly, this was not what either of them had planned when they came here and they were tired of just sitting around doing nothing. "Never thought I'd be saying this, but all that moaning they're doing is starting to get real annoying."

"Well, ten minutes of listening to the same thing can do that to you," Eli merely replied with a sigh as he stole a quick glance at his watch. "I can't believe I'm saying this myself, but this is becoming more boring than it is scary. Even those zombies don't seem so scary anymore after listening to them for this long. You'd think that they'd get bored and leave after figuring out they can't reach us."

"Well, you definitely got to give them points for being so persistent," the black haired teen said with a shrug. "I guess it's in their nature to either catch their prey or trap them and either wait for them to come back out or give up. If we weren't in plain view, then I'm sure they'd have already given up on us. I just wish they didn't choose now to be so annoyingly persistent in making us their meal."

"Trust me; these things are like dogs. They're always going to be hungry no matter how much they eat. I wouldn't be surprised if that's their only reason for existing. If they catch sight of anything other than themselves moving, then they're going after it until they either catch or lose sight of it. That means every minute that we manage to eek out is another minute that we're fighting to survive. I'd probably start worrying a bit the moment I see one of them actually not wanting to make us their new meal."

"Uh, and seeing people get eaten by other people turned into monsters isn't something to worry about? You make it sound like that we've been living like this for a long time. Then again, you always were able to adapt quickly to new environments. I shouldn't be this surprised you've already considered this normal."

Instead of answering, the bald teen merely shrugged off his backpack and dug into it for something. A second later, he took out a pair of black binoculars and brought them up to his eyes. Whatever he was looking at was something Greg could only guess at.

"What, are you watching out for a rescue helicopter or something? Come on, buddy; I think they'd have done something like that already. Although I really wouldn't mind getting onto an evac chopper now."

"Yeah, I'm just hoping like some stupidly optimistic idiot that the rescue chopper was late and coming any minute now," Eli sarcastically answered. "Of course I'm not looking for that! What I'm doing is checking out how things are over at the hospital. I was planning on making a quick trip over there to get my hands on some medical supplies once I was done here. After that, I was going to get out of this town before it killed me. However, it looks like I'm going to have to put a damper on that plan for now."

"That reminds me," Greg suddenly said as he threw the collected gravel over the side and stood next to the other. "What were you doing hanging around back at my cousin's house? You were the last person I expected to see there."

"My sentiments exactly on that," the other stated as he let out an amused chuckle. "I was there to see if your cousins were hiding out and join up with them. I've been on my own hiding out at my place for the past couple weeks already. I only decided to come out today I ran out of edible food. It sucks that the electricity's been out for a week or I would've lasted longer by cooking the meat in the fridge. Can't believe it's gone to waste now."

"And what about your grandparents? The last time I came by to visit, you had moved in with them after your parents had to move into a hospital because of health complications. What happened to them?"

"The army came and escorted them to someplace safer. I have no idea where they are, but I honestly don't care too much. The point here is that I've been on my own for the past two weeks in an area I've overheard the army call the dead zone. Figuring it'd be best to be on the move, I've been stocking up on whatever I could get my hands on and looking for people who might be willing to leave this city with me. I managed to meet up with one person, but we decided to split up for the time being so we could collect more supplies. She's right now at Suffern High School searching for people and whatever else she can get her hands on. I was supposed to go to the hospital to look for medicine, but I figured on making a quick side-trip to your cousins' house before that. I figured I'd at least check up on them before leaving town, but I'm sure you saw how that turned out."

"Wow, it sounds like you have a pretty solid plan to work with," Greg replied as he looked at Eli in amazement. "It's definitely better than what I first thought of which was to just run away. It also makes me feel a bit better that you found somebody to team up with. I won't be surprised if hanging out as a group will be the only way for us to survive through this. Being on your own could be the stupidest thing to do now.

"Ironically enough, I also came here so I could see how my cousins were holding up," he added before huffing in amusement. "I thought for sure that they'd stay behind and defend their house no matter what. I'm sure you know that my uncle was a stickler for keeping his family together and defend his home no matter what happened."

"You think I wasn't surprised when I saw the house all empty? I did hear a bit on the news before the electricity was cut that the army was going to escort people from their homes and to their designated safety zones. I wouldn't be surprised if your uncle was convinced by them to leave. I think that'd be the only reason he'd leave his house.

"As for me, I happened to be down in the cellar getting something when they came and escorted my grandparents to wherever it was they took them. I kept myself hidden down there until they were gone. My grandparents already knew how I felt about taking my chances on my own than with the military. I'm still surprised how they actually allowed me to be on their own rather than force me to come with them."

"I guess they felt the same way if they made sure the army didn't catch you. At least you don't have to worry too much about them since they're with other people. Still, I'm hoping that they weren't taken to Suffern High. From previous experience on my part from my high school, it'd probably not be the safest of places to hide out no matter how well they got it protected. Call it a biased opinion if you want, but that's how I feel."

"Something's telling me that a bunch of zombies managed to chase you out if you're telling me that," Eli said amusedly as he put down his binoculars and let them dangle at his side. "Looks like what I figured was right; the military is just wasting their time setting up designated safe zones. They're in no way prepared to handle this crap much less protect us from it. That just made me more worried about my grandparents."

"Actually, all this zombie business kind of took Southfields by surprise," Greg quickly explained. "Nobody in town knew about this, so we were basically on our own then the zombies started attacking. I have no idea what went on with communication, but it seems like we were living in seclusion in Southfields until the trouble came right to us. My only guess is that the connection with other towns was broken if we got no warning about it.

"I have a feeling, though, that this town at least must have had some kind of early warning since the streets didn't look like it was congested with cars," he added as a thoughtful glance passed his face. "If that's true, then I think that means the army here was able to make a better stand against this. There has to at least be one spot here where the people were able to keep the zombies from storming through."

"Just because things look calmer here doesn't mean we were better off at the start of things," the bald teen corrected somewhat bitterly. "I would say that things seemed pretty orderly at the beginning, but things went downhill fast. Like I said earlier, the military wasn't in any way prepared to handle this. With how sudden all this came about, I'm not surprised that Southfields was all panicky. Everybody was thinking more about how to survive this instead of warning other people about this."

After hearing this, Greg merely nodded his head in agreement as he thought about what they just discussed. Suffern was bombarded with zombies two weeks ago. Even when things were fine at first, they quickly became overwhelmed. Like Eli said, the military was in no shape to handle something like this. And if people continued to be more concerned about themselves than others, then nowhere was going to be safe.

It was clear to him now that trying to find a place to stay put was not going to be a great idea. With how everybody was acting when they saw the zombies, the chances of something like this coming to an end soon did not seem possible anymore. Not even the military seemed competent in taking down the monsters. If anything, trying to survive this catastrophe for as long as possible seemed like the only logical choice available now.

"…I guess this means we're all royally screwed at this point," Greg murmured as he let out a deep sigh. "Something tells me that I'm going to be doing a lot of travelling and have lots of sleepless nights in the near future.

"Anyway, do you mind if I backtracked a bit?" he suddenly asked. "I think you said earlier that this place was considered a dead zone. Do you mean that the army thinks the entire town isn't worth protecting anymore?"

"No, they only said that this neighborhood is considered a dead zone," Eli clarified. "I don't know how far this zone of theirs is, but I have a feeling it encompasses both the high school and hospital that are nearby. Those two places were considered safe zones, so I'm guessing the military had them evacuated to somewhere safer. Still, I think that they failed in whatever plan they had since I haven't heard a single gunshot starting a week ago. Like you said just now, this how town probably isn't worth protecting anymore."

"So you're saying that there theoretically shouldn't be any big groups of people left in this neighborhood. Great, Teddy and Billy just had to go to Suffern High so they can look for somebody. They're definitely going to get a rude surprise when they get there. Oh, and we decided to meet up at the hospital when we were done. We just had to unknowingly make things harder for ourselves later, didn't we?"

"Are these two people you just mentioned your friends?" the bald teen asked with an eyebrow raised. "Wow, I never thought you'd be able to properly befriend somebody besides me. Your attitude always had been a bit rough around the edges and made it hard for people to approach you."

"Hey, I changed quite a bit from when we first met. Give me more credit than that, Eli. I'm no longer that little kid who likes to bully people for the heck of it. Now that I think about it, I was being pretty stupid trying to look for others to pick on. I don't know why I thought that was anywhere near fun."

"And how about your opportunistic ways? Are you sure you didn't just team up with them because they could help you survive? You always did like to hang out around people if they have some kind of added benefit to you, myself excluded."

"Why don't we stop talking about random crap and start thinking about how we're going to get out of this mess?" Greg quickly changed subjects as he seemed adamant on avoiding the subject. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of just sitting around on this roof looking like an idiot. There has to be some way we can safely get down from here without having to deal with the sea of death."

"Okay, then how do you suggest we get out of this without getting ourselves killed in the process?" Eli asked as he grinned in amusement at how his flustered friend. "I doubt we can pull off something like that with the sea of monsters down there. And I don't know if you know this, but anybody who so much as gets scratched by these damned monsters turns into one of them. I heard the news say that before the electricity was cut."

"I think I heard one of the officers back in Southfields say something like that. I thought he was just trying to give me a good scare so I would head to somewhere safe. Now that I hear it coming from you, I guess he was telling the truth. You always preferred to be direct whenever it came to the truth. We'll just make sure none of them get close enough to even touch us once we find a way to get down from here.

"And speaking about that, I was thinking that maybe we could find some way to sneak around them by going through the backyard," he continued with his explanation. "While you were busy looking out at whatever it is you were looking at, I noticed that the backyard was pretty empty. If it's really all that safe, then we should be able to make a break for it from there. This house marks the start of Henry Court, so we might be able to hop the fence at a spot where these zombies aren't crowding and get back onto E. Mayer Street. It may not be the greatest of ideas, but it's the best I can come up with."

"And how do you suggest we get down to the backyard from here, Greg? I did a quick check myself while you were emptying your backpack, and I noticed that there's no way down without risking a broken leg or worse. We may be able to get out of this mess if we do that, but I'm not to risk breaking a bone by jumping off a house roof."

"There has to be something down there that we can use to soften the landing. Maybe a swimming pool or trampoline or even a pile of fallen leaves. Hell, I'll even settle for a pile of garbage if that's what it takes."

"I can come up with something wrong with each of those suggestions, you know?" Eli said while shooting an annoyed look much to Greg's irritation. Autumn hasn't even started yet; I doubt that yard has even started to become covered with leaves. A swimming pool does sound like a good idea, but I don't want to run away from zombies soaking wet since I don't have a change of clothes. Not like we have to worry about that since this house doesn't have one. And trampolines might make our landing worse by the bounce which will then lead to a landing that'll be both awkward and painful. And don't even get me started on using garbage as a landing zone. We might unknowingly be jumping into a pile of sharp things and get impaled to death. Unless you have a plan that doesn't pose added risk of getting injured or becoming sick, I don't want to hear it. If they at least had those wooden things along their wall for their plants to climb up on, then I'd go with that idea."

"Geez, you didn't have to grill me that hard over my suggestions. You could've just said that all of them had flaws that you weren't going to bet on. Would've been better than to go on a long and dejecting rant."

After grumbling a few inaudible words that were probably best left unheard, Greg silently tried to come up with another plan that would get them off the roof. That also included walking along the perimeter of the roof that was on the side of the backyard. After some careful scanning and going through various stages of consideration as shown through his ever changing face, he finally seemed content with an answer as he made his way back to Eli with a happy yet hopeful grin plastered on.

"How about we use one of the storm drains to help us get down from here?" he suggested before pointing towards a section of the roof. "There's one installed along the wall over there. I saw bolts fastening it against the house, so it should be stable enough for climbing. If we can get a good grip on it, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

For a few seconds, Eli kept quiet as he seemed to be thinking about what he just heard. Seeing as how he was not immediately objecting to the idea, Greg thought it looked like a good chance that his plan was with little to no flaws. Then again, it could have been that it was really bad and the other was simply trying to come up with something better.

"…I guess that's a plan we can try working with," he admitted before stuffing his binoculars back into his backpack and putting it on. "So long as it doesn't run any risk of getting ourselves hurt, it's better than just staying up here like bait on a fishing pole. We'd better hurry, though, while the fence in the direction of the connecting street is still free. I don't want to be greeted by a random monster."

"Nothing a good whack to the head can't fix," Greg replied as he made his way to the aforementioned storm drain and knelt down beside it. "I'm more worried about slipping and breaking my neck doing this. Still, this is the best idea I can come up with without resorting to jumping into the zombie crowd and letting them break our fall."

"I think we'll save that for when we go crazy and decide to become suicidal maniacs," Eli sarcastically stated as he watched the other carefully scale down the wall. "Just hurry up and get down before they figure out what we're up to and decide to try and cut us off." Thankfully, the descent was quick and was undisturbed by any monsters.

"Alright, your turn," the black haired teen called up as loudly as he could without making too much noise. The last thing they needed was to alert the zombies on their current position. In a couple more seconds, the bald teen was now carefully making his way down the roof. There was a moment where he accidentally lost his footing, but he quickly recovered and reached the ground without further incident.

Without wasting any time, they both made their way towards the fence where their only route of escape waited on the other side. Thankfully, there were occasional small holes in the tall wooden fence which provided them with a view of any potential danger on the other side. Determining that it was as safe as it could be, they both climbed over the fence simultaneously. Unfortunately for them, they happened to land right next to a zombie lying against a part of the fence that was just out of their view.

"Thinking of getting the slip on us?" the bald teen growled before delivering a swift kick to the zombie's head. With a sickening crack, the arm it had barely raised went limp and the coagulated blood painted the fence with its jelly-like dark red coloring. "I don't think so. That'll teach you to try and hide out from unsuspecting people."

"Uh, you kind of just drew the other zombies' attention to us," the other groaned as he saw a few now turning around and making their way towards them. "They probably heard you smashing their friend's head in and are now pissed. I thought we were supposed to just leave without drawing attention to ourselves."

"I'm pretty sure they were going to notice us missing sooner or later, so might as well put this guy out of its misery and show the others how threatening we can be. It should deter them from following us. And if they still do, it's not as though they'll be able to catch up to us when we start running. The best they can do is walk fast before falling over.

"Now let's hurry up and get over to that damned hospital!" he exclaimed before suddenly breaking out into a run. "The place looked pretty empty from here, so I don't think we should have too much trouble finding cover there."

Merely raising an eyebrow at Eli's futile attempt at wanting to send the zombies a message, Greg quickly followed him down the street. Without his hands wrapped around his trusty crowbar, he was forced to simply dodge all the zombies they happened to pass by. He did try to look around for a suitable replacement as he ran but was met only with disappointment. Apart from the regular street trash and the occasional pebble, there was nothing in the streets that suited his needs.

Eli, on the other hand, felt content to ram his shoulders into those that were on their own and send them falling to the ground. It was almost like he was trying to vent his frustrations out on the abominations. At least it was better than leaving them still standing and able to follow them. However, he only did this sparingly as constant use of the move was bound to slow their progress and thus make it harder to shake off the monsters.

Even though they were doing pretty well with the running, the baseball player could not help feeling like just another helpless person without having some kind of weapon in his hands. Hopefully, he will be able to find something useful once they made it to the hospital. And just maybe Teddy and Billy would be there waiting for them when they arrive with Billy's brother in tow. That would definitely be a welcome bit of good news after all the hell they have been through the past couple of days.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. Sorry to those of you who were anticipating some kind of action in this chapter. I was kind of wanting to put some in, but the way my writing ended up made it that it was more of an explanation on Eli's part as to what's going on. In the end, we did learn now that the world has most likely gone down the drain at this point. There's no hope of safety anymore and that being on the constant move is going to be their only true way to survive this hell.

Sorry if any of you thought that this was slow. I just wrote whatever came to mind and this popped up. Don't forget that I'm writing this story as it comes along, so I honestly have no idea what's going to happen next. Like you all, I'm anticipating what is going to happen. So don't grill me too hard if this chapter is too slow for some of you.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you leave. They are always very helpful. And now I'll leave you with the outtakes before heading off to bed and getting some much needed sleep! Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

**Outtakes:**

Greg: That moaning is really starting to get on my nerves!

Eli: Deal with it. It's not like I can do anything about it.

Greg: Well, can't you do something to kill the boredom?

Eli: ...I guess I can think of a couple of things?

Greg: (Instantly perking up) Like what?

Eli: (Starts to unbutton pants) Jerking off is always a good way to kill time.

Greg: (Stares blankly) Eh, better than nothing. (Gets up and proceeds to unbutton own pants)

\

Greg: What are you doing with the binoculars, Eli?

Eli: None of your business.

Greg: Are you looking for a rescue helicopter?

Eli: I said it's none of your business.

Greg: Then what are you looking for?

Eli: ...Come over here, Greg. (Motions for Greg to come) I think I found something interesting.

Greg: (Immediately runs to Eli's side) What is it?

(Eli then pushes Greg off roof and down to awaiting zombies)

Eli: Finally got him to shut up. (Continues looking through binoculars and ignores screams)

\

Eli: Are you sure this is safe, Greg?

Greg: It's either the storm drain or staying up here for the rest of our lives.

Eli: ...I guess anything's better than that. Just be careful climbing down that thing?

Greg: What's the worst that could happen? (Prepares for descent)

Eli: (Crosses arms) You could fall and break your neck.

Greg: As if that's going to happen. (Makes a misstep and falls to ground with sickening crack)

Eli: (Looks down and sees Greg in disturbing position) You okay, Greg?

(No response)

Eli: ...At least he isn't going to be complaining to me anymore. (Jumps off roof cat-style and walks away)


End file.
